A Fort Worth coalition seeks $70 million to turn a former Klan headquarters into an arts center

A Fort Worth nonprofit coalition is raising $70 million to turn the former Ku Klux Klan headquarters at 1012 N. Main St. into a cultural arts center, according to a Bisnow profile of the project published on October 9. The campaign is not a new announcement; the profile describes a project that has been underway since 2019. The nonprofit, Transform 1012 N. Main Street, plans to keep the building's existing 35,000-square-foot frame and add a 250-seat theater, two dance rehearsal spaces, galleries and classrooms across three levels.

The adaptive reuse project was expected to cost about $43 million when it was announced in 2022, Bisnow reported. As construction costs have risen, Transform 1012 is starting a capital campaign to raise $70 million to reach the construction phase. The project is funded through grants and donations.

A coalition of the people the building targeted

Transform 1012 was formed in 2019 by a coalition of nonprofits representing groups targeted by the Klan when it used the building, Bisnow reported: the city's Black, Hispanic, Jewish, Catholic, immigrant and LGBTQIA+ communities. Members include DNAWorks, the Opal Lee Foundation, SOL Ballet Folklorico, The Welman Project, Window to Your World and the Transform 1012 Youth Council.

The project's website says the center, "in an act of reparative justice," returns resources to the communities that were targeted for violence and economic marginalization by the Klan, and that the board uses a shared, pluricultural leadership approach. It describes the building's original purpose: it opened in 1924 as the Ku Klux Klan Auditorium, then at 1006 N. Main Street, and was the Klan's Texas headquarters.

Where the building came from

The Klan sold the building in 1927, Bisnow reported, and it later served as a warehouse, a boxing arena and a pecan processing plant before it was abandoned in 1999. Transform 1012 acquired it at the beginning of 2022 through a donation from the previous owners, the investment group Sugarplum Holdings, and Rainwater Charitable Foundation helped cover the cost of the property with a grant. The nonprofit did not disclose the building's cost.

The building may qualify for the National Register of Historic Places and for local landmark recognition, but Fort Worth Development Services, which oversees the city's historic preservation department, says it has not been fully assessed for either, Bisnow reported.

Telling the history

Transform 1012 says it will not hide what the building was. "Our job is to bring awareness to what the building was but also what it is going to be," said Kelly Allen Gray, the interim executive director. The redesign will include an exhibit on the building's history with the Klan and on the life of Fred Rouse, a Black butcher who was lynched in Fort Worth in 1921.

The center is also meant to support its surroundings. The project sits at the edge of the Historic Northside and the $1.2 billion Panther Island project, and Mayor Pro Tem Carlos Flores said it is "an important part of understanding history while embracing new purpose using the Northside District's redevelopment momentum." A commercial real estate executive quoted by Bisnow expects the center to raise investor confidence in the area.

Paying to operate it

Transform 1012 plans to use a rental model to help pay for the center's operations and may charge for some community events, Bisnow reported. It envisions movie premieres, small concerts and other performing arts programs.

For donors and other capital campaigns, the project illustrates a common problem: a cost estimate from before a surge in construction prices can fall far short by the time a campaign launches. A campaign that reaches for a larger number needs a plain account of why the target moved, and an operating plan to keep the building alive afterward. Fort Worth is home to a national Juneteenth museum that has raised $55 million toward its own target, and the Opal Lee Foundation is part of this coalition too. For another example of a capital project that pairs a gift with a match, see Lilly Endowment's $20 million for Origin Park.