One day the marquee of the historic Forest Theater will be lit up again for the first time in 50 years. This moment won’t be until 2025, but there has been progress on the site since the groundbreaking in April.
It has not been easy restoring the 75-year-old theater, which Karl Hoblitzelle built in 1949. But Forest Forward, the group working to restore the historic theater, isn’t letting anything stop them.
“This is our 75th anniversary and what a great time to celebrate a face lift and get 75 more years of contributing to the neighborhood and bringing economic vibrancy back to the economic core,” said CEO and founder of Forest Forward Elizabeth Wattley.
Before it became a designated landmark, the theater on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South Dallas was going to be torn down and turned into a QuikTrip gas station. Forest Forward, a nonprofit organization, acquired the theater in 2017 after 15 years of vacancy. The organization has been making progress in restoring the theater and turning it into a hub for entertainment and arts education. The finished theater will feature a concert hall, creative laboratory, roof deck and studio theater.
“Over time the theater has had openings and closures and it’s served in a number of different capacities,” Wattley said. “It’s been a synagogue, a night club, a church, it’s been a performance hall. Through those openings and closures this is the last time. We are to be open and remain open.”
Wattley said the project’s goal is to improve South Dallas by keeping its character and history intact while causing as little displacement of residents as possible.
“It was a special place not only because you were looking at movies at the time and that was magical,” said lead architect Mike Vela of HKS. “The building itself kind of reflected how it was so different from everything else that was built around it.”
The project is currently in the demolition phase and Vela said the biggest obstacle right now is trying to find the correct color yellow LED lights for the original neon sign the theater is known for. But according to Vela this specific color can only be found in Italy, so they are working with specialists in Las Vegas to re-create the lights instead.
Despite the setbacks, Wattley and Vela said the project is on schedule for a soft launch in December 2025 and will be open to patrons in the summer of 2026.
“We’re looking backward but we’re also looking forward,” Vela said. “There’s a historical component to the theater, but then there’s the new part of it that looks to the future and uses part of the education for the kids. Whatever they learn here they will take with them to their future careers.”
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