Conan O’Brien taped a week’s worth of shows at the Majestic when the NCAA Final Four came to town in 2014.
Brad Loper/Staff Photographer
To the same-as-it-ever-was pile, we add yet another sequel to an old story: The city’s once again looking for someone to take the 105-year-old Majestic Theater off its hands. And by off its hands, I mean off the books. Because, all together now: Everything must go.
City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert on Friday told the Dallas City Council that she’s searching for a third party to operate the city-owned historical landmark in the hopes that a public-private partnership will “support the ongoing needs and increase revenue streams at the Majestic.” Ideally, Tolbert wrote, “the preferred structure for an agreement would be in the form of a triple net lease.”
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Which means a tenant wouldn’t have to pay much rent, but would have to maintain Theater Row’s sole survivor. And as city officials keep reminding us while trying to offload Dallas City Hall, keeping everything in working order ain’t cheap, especially in old buildings. Just last month, the City Council approved spending more than $660,830 on a new sound system at the Majestic to replace one installed 14 years ago, which is old enough that it’s out of warranty and no longer reparable.
As you’ll see below, though, the Majestic isn’t exactly a money-loser. But Tolbert appears eager for the Majestic to be someone else’s problem. Except that maintenance piece of the lease is likely to be the biggest non-starter since Anthony Davis.
Arthur Rothstein’s classic 1942 photo of downtown Dallas includes the Majestic alongside the other gems of the Theater Row long since dismantled and disappeared.
Library of Congress/Arthur Rothstein
The first person I called about the Majestic going up for grabs was Warren Tranquada, president and CEO of the AT&T Performing Arts Center, which books events at the Elm Street theater, including a May 9 Mickey Dolenz show. I asked if the ATTPAC was interested in taking over the Majestic.
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He laughed and said only, “We love using the Majestic. It’s a great venue, and regardless of who the next operator is, we hope to continue using it regularly.”
Then I called Edwin Cabaniss, owner of the Longhorn Ballroom and Kessler Theater, who also puts on concerts at the Majestic, including Saturday’s show featuring Men at Work frontman Colin Hay.
He called it an “exceptional facility,” and said that “if the city were to put it out for bid, I believe it would attract interest from capable operators at both the local and national levels. Operating historic properties comes with unique challenges, so the lease details will need to be thoroughly vetted by both parties.”
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And that was all he’d say.
But if history is our guide, we should lower our expectations. Because — shocking, I know — we’ve been here before.
The Majestic, built in 1921 for $2 million, was long the centerpiece of Karl Hoblitzelle’s Interstate Theatre chain before closing in 1973. The Hoblitzelle Foundation gifted it to the city in 1977, and six years and $6 million later, the Majestic reopened. But the foundation didn’t just give away the Majestic and walk away from it: Its president and CEO, Katie Robbins, said they’ve invested more than $500,000 in capital improvements, and helped fund the 2018 Dallas Cultural Plan.
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Robbins, who sits on the ATTPAC’s board, said the foundation supports the city’s efforts “to ensure the Majestic continues to play a strong role in a dynamic and evolving downtown,” but expressed concern about turning over the theater to a for-profit operator.
“With several venues in close proximity — including the Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre, the forthcoming Forest Theater and the Music Hall at Fair Park — it will be important that the Majestic complements and strengthens the overall landscape rather than competing with it,” she said.
For a long time, the city had no idea what to do with the Majestic. In 1999, Dallas Summer Musicals Management Group took over operations, but was happy to see its contract expire a decade later. DSM claimed it lost $1 million operating the Majestic.
The city went looking for wanna-be operators at the end of 2009, but months later could find none — in part, because the AT&T Performing Arts Center had just come online, and management groups didn’t want to compete with the city’s newest bright-and-shinies. One applicant told me Monday the city also wanted an operator to assume maintenance responsibilities then, a deal-killer.
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The Majestic was called the New Majestic when it opened in 1921, as it replaced a previous theater with the same name. The “Theater” or “Theatre,” either of which appears to be acceptable, was only added decades later.
Ashley Landis/Staff Photographer
Since mothballing the Majestic wasn’t an option, the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs (now the Office of Arts and Culture) took control, though it took the 2013 hiring of Mike Schwedler, who’d been booking shows at the Granada Theater on Greenville Avenue, for the Majestic to become majestic again.
Since Schwedler’s hiring, the Majestic has played host to the likes of Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler, Elvis Costello, Sabrina Carpenter and, just last month, Robert Plant. Schwedler has done a remarkable job maintaining the legacy of a venue whose stage once featured Duke Ellington, Bob Hope and Mae West.
Schwedler couldn’t talk about the memo. And a city spokesperson hasn’t responded to numerous questions about why the city is yet again looking for an outside Majestic operator now.
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It took some digging just to figure out how much the Majestic costs taxpayers, because according to the city’s latest budget document, the Office of Arts and Culture is responsible for some 19 cultural venues, which cost $15.56 million annually. Jack Ireland, the city’s chief financial officer, was helpful enough to break down how much the Majestic costs to operate ($2.98 million “for both operating and capital/maintenance”) and how much revenue it generates ($2.31 million from ticket sales, concession sales, theater rentals and what he calls “the Majestic Theater multi-year fund”).
Jeff Tweedy, founder and frontman of Wilco, has performed numerous times at the Majestic, including in 2019.
Shaban Athuman/Staff Photographer
The budget lists that multi-year fund separately, as the Majestic “gift and trust.” But Ireland said that might be “inaccurately classified,” as it’s funded by ticket and rental fees. Regardless, it’s a restricted fund of some $900,000 controlled by the city and used solely “for the Majestic Theatre’s benefit and improvements,” per Ireland. The new sound system’s coming out of that extra pile of cash.
So, if I do my math correctly — no promises — the Majestic will just about break even this year. Which makes the rush to part with it all the more curious.
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There’s also a fortune still awaiting a Majestic makeover.
In 2024, voters approved a $1.25 billion bond program from which there’s $8.3 million set aside for the Majestic. But seeing as how nothing’s been designed or built, the city’s clearly not in a rush to spend it. Which would be funny if it weren’t so frustrating.
Everything about the Majestic is majestic, including its lobby.
Ashley Landis/Staff Photographer
I once sat in on a council meeting during which officials complained that the Majestic’s exterior needed at least $2 million worth of work — and that was more than a decade ago, when then-council member Lee Kleinman chided staff that “bond money is not to fix things.”
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Except here in Big D (for Deferred Maintenance), that’s all we spend it on. Look no further than the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.
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Michelle Miller Burns, the DSO’s president and CEO, said there are upsides to managing the Meyerson, like controlling the calendar and being able to rent it out. But, she noted, “We are managing a building that is 36 years old, and its maintenance is a major undertaking.”
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Now imagine that building was 105 years old. Sounds like a majestic undertaking. Any takers?