If you’ve driven by the Casa Linda Theater’s marquee lately, you’re probably wondering why the movie Mighty Joe Young is still playing in our neighborhood months and months after its opening (and fairly quick closing) everywhere else in America.
The answer, as you probably know, is that the theater closed shortly after premiering the movie, and it has been vacant ever since.
So what’s up with the building now?
“We’ve had lots of interest in the property,” says listing broker John Levinski with Cushman & Wakefield.
“At first, we thought it would eventually be turned into more retail space. But things change, and here’s where we are today.”
A local group has the theater property under contract while considering plans to turn the building into a “Granada-type dinner theater,” Levinski says. He didn’t want to identify the group or hazard a guess about when their feasibility would be complete, other than to say it could be “quite a few months.”
Interestingly enough, the theater isn’t part of the surrounding shopping center property. Instead, Levinski says, it’s separately owned by the estate of the late Gordon McLendon, a Dallas radio pioneer.
Levinski says the theater’s equipment mostly left with operator Rich Petersen (Petersen was basically forced out of the property after his lease expired), but many of the theater seats remain.
Petersen couldn’t be reached for comment, but considering the apparently low demand for retail conversion of the property, McLendon’s estate might as well have let Petersen hang around a bit longer.
Another long-dormant neighborhood building should soon have a new lease on life, too.
The former JoJo’s on Mockingbird (near the Burger House) just west of Abrams Road is under contract to Robert Peterson, who operates the Aw Shucks and Blue Goose restaurants on Greenville Avenue, according to someone knowledgeable about the deal who wasn’t eager to be identified.
Peterson’s plans include a “different concept” from the two restaurants he’s currently involved with, according to the source. Peterson didn’t return several messages left at his office, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see what he has in mind. (Peterson has been arm-wrestling with the City of Dallas and neighbors concerning a property-dividing fence and missing certificate of occupancy at Aw Shucks; maybe that’s why he didn’t make time to call us back.) Anyway, he’s expected to close on the JoJo’s deal anytime now.
Another interesting deal point, according to the source: Peterson apparently is buying the building and assuming a long-term lease of the property, but the real estate beneath the building and parking lot will continue to be owned by entertainer Barbra Streisand’s brother, who is not a neighborhood resident as far as I can tell.
How the singer’s brother came to own a restaurant building on Mockingbird Lane is a good question – give me a call or drop me a line if you know the answer.
