Arthouse Houston is closer than ever to bringing another historic movie palace back to life.

After five months of fundraising, the community arts nonprofit is moving to close on the purchase of the Garden Oaks Theater. Ride-or-die donors have aided in Arthouse’s mission to remodel, restore, and revitalize the $7.1 million property, which will be home to a new community arts and film center with year-round film programming, live performances, film production, and educational resources.

“In partnership with other Houston arts organizations, we will establish the historic cinema as a new arts & film center that can support and help to grow film as an art form and industry in Texas and beyond,” says Arthouse director Maureen McNamara.

Arthouse is around $400,000 short of a targeted $3.1 million goal to cover the down payment and carrying costs. Immediately after closing (which will be just after Labor Day), the next step begins: a capital campaign to fund the restoration, with a planned grand opening in 2028.

Arthouse has worked diligently to round up support for this endeavor, even collaborating with two of the city’s most acclaimed, Oscar-nominated filmmakers. Last month, Wes Anderson came back to H-Town for the Wes Anderson Homecoming Soirée, a fundraiser that drew nearly 500 supporters and raised approximately $300,000 towards this campaign.

“We’re almost there!” Anderson said. “The screen is just about to light up, and we can already taste the popcorn. The success of this little rescue belongs to every single person in Houston. It’s going to pay fantastic dividends for years to come — in ways no one can yet predict.”

“We’re so close now we can almost taste it,” says Arthouse board member (and Dazed and Confused director) Richard Linklater. “What’s especially moving is the way Houston — and people far beyond Houston — have come together to make this possible: more than 800 individual donors from over 220 ZIP codes, giving everything from $5 a month to extraordinary major gifts.

“The arts are part of what makes a city matter,” he continues, “and Houston has an opportunity here to create a world-class home for film and artistic life that reflects the extraordinary energy of the city. We’ve come incredibly far. Now we need to get across the finish line, close on the theater, and begin the real work of creating something that honors its past while building an exciting new future for film and the arts in Houston.”

While other historic movie buildings have been repurposed as grocery stores, music venues, and other event spaces, the Garden Oaks will be one of only two remaining historic cinemas (the River Oaks Theatre is the other) in Houston that still operate as movie houses.

"We are thrilled that so many people in Houston heard the call for help and responded with gifts large and small,” says founding donor Phoebe Tudor. “With the help of so many history and film lovers, we will be able to move forward with purchasing the beautiful historic Garden Oaks Theater and saving it from the wrecking ball. Now that the theater is saved, we can embark on a proper capital campaign for the renovation. Thank you, thank you! I knew we could do it!”

For more information about the project, please visit arthousehtx.org. Private tours of the property are available for interested donors emailing info@arthousehtx.org.