Built in 1929, the Winnetka Congregational Church is being restored and transformed into a for-profit arts center that will provide space for theater companies.
After two years of zoning battles with the city, owners Todd and Lola Lott are getting closer to opening the arts center of their dreams.
Arts Mission Oak Cliff will launch this spring and will host workshops, classes, offer studio space for technical theater, costume, and set design. In addition, there will be a full kitchen, available for cooking classes, a yoga and dance studio, and even a sound booth.
The husband-and-wife duo purchased the building in 2015 because they wanted to invest in a “legacy project,” and the church was perfect, Todd Lott told the Oak Cliff Advocate Magazine.
“Todd and Lola are patron saints,” actor, director, and teacher Anastasia Munoz said to Advocate. “They’re independent investors who stayed the course. They’re truly rooted and invested in this.”
The couple is working to restore the building to be historically accurate in order to qualify for historic tax credits. The project is expected to cost about $600,000.
For a daily dose of what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth innovation, subscribe to our Dallas Innovates e-newsletter.
R E A D N E X T
-
“Dallas is a city that booms north of I-30. Unfortunately, if you live south of I-30 all too often you only hear rumors of that boom,” Dr. Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, said during Thursday's opening. “JPMorgan Chase is actively being a bridge builder. It is a repairer of the breach.”The community branch plans to help Black and Latinx consumers open bank accounts and start businesses as part of Chase's $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity and provide economic opportunities to underserved communities.
-
It's not "Jurassic Park," but it's almost as amazing. Hypergiant founder Ben Lamm is launching a new biosciences and genetics startup—Colossal—with $15 million in private funding. The goal: Use genomics to "de-extinct" the woolly mammoth and re-wild it on the Arctic tundra. Lamm's co-founder, Harvard geneticist Dr. George Church, says this "grand vision" could lead to big opportunities in conservation, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and more.
-
Step inside the mixed-income residential community that fills a gap in the neighborhood's need for affordable housing—while preserving a landmark church's historical significance. Our photo tour takes you from the 1930s to the project's recent ambitious renovation and reconstruction.
