Images: Grove Park's historic theater dreams take step forward

A historic preservation project that Grove Park leaders hope will reenergize the Westside neighborhood’s commercial core is showing fresh signs of life.

Six years ago, the Grove Park Foundation acquired the former Grove Theatre—a shuttered, circa-1941 Westside landmark at 1576 Donald Lee Hollowell that had fallen into disrepair—in hopes of rebirthing the space into a local marketplace and center for education programming and multigenerational cultural arts.

According to Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, another $830,000 has been identified to help make that happen.

The funding for what’s officially called the Grove Park Performing and Cultural Arts Center would be sourced from the Perry Bolton Tax Allocation District Resurgens Fund, according to an Invest Atlanta project fact sheet.

That follows $2 million in private financial commitments in April from Bank of America and Chick-fil-A—$1 million from each company—toward making the project a reality.

The 1576 Donald Lee Hollowell NW property's condition today. via Invest Atlanta

Grove Park Performing and Cultural Arts Center; via Invest Atlanta

The theater is located about three miles directly west of Georgia Tech, just south of Westside Park, the city’s largest greenspace. Across the street is the KIPP Woodson Park Academy, a K-8 school founded in 2019 in partnership with Atlanta Public Schools.

Beyond a throwback façade, renovation plans call for adding a second-floor mezzanine to the former theater and boosting the total leasable space to 10,400 square feet. Around the interior will be flexible performance and studio spaces for arts and culture partners, along with office space and a slot for a café or other retail, project officials have said.

Grove Park Foundation has partnered with local nonprofit Urban Perform Wellness and Atlanta’s Resource for Entertainment and Arts to provide dance, health, and fitness programs, per Invest Atlanta.

via Invest Atlanta

The renovation project is expected to cost $4.5 million overall and take 12 months to complete, according to Invest Atlanta, though no construction timeline was provided. Building permit records show no recent activity at the site.

Roughly a block west of the theater site, Atlanta rappers Killer Mike and T.I. have partnered to bring back legendary seafood restaurant Bankhead Seafood, which closed in 2018. Killer Mike shared construction progress photos on social media this week of the restaurant venture, with a “coming soon” banner now fluttering on the upstairs rooftop.

Plans for the performing arts center's ground level. Grove Park Performing and Cultural Arts Center; via Invest Atlanta