The Granada Theater has set April 17, 2027, as its last night of shows. That date is on the owners' announcement and has been repeated in every headline since. The future of 3524 Greenville Avenue, though, depends on a different set of dates. As of early November, the property had not changed hands. A rezoning request is moving through City Hall, and the marquee everyone expects to survive has no City of Dallas historic protection.
Two Calendars for One Corner
Owners Mike Schoder and Julia Garton announced on Oct. 23 that they would sell the Granada and Sundown at Granada. The buyer is Bathhouse, a New York wellness company co-founded by Travis Talmadge and Jason Goodman that plans to turn the theater into a venue built around pools, saunas and steam rooms. In early November, The Dallas Morning News checked the county deed records and found the site had not yet transferred. The sale is expected in spring 2027.
| Date | What happens on the corner |
|---|---|
| Nov. 1, 2026 | Sundown at Granada ended regular restaurant service |
| Through Dec. 31, 2026 | Private events continue at Sundown |
| As early as Jan. 21, 2027 | Bathhouse's rezoning request could go before the city's planning and zoning commission; the date may change |
| Spring 2027 | Expected sale of the site to Bathhouse |
| April 17, 2027 | Last scheduled show at the Granada |
| Second half of 2027 | Estimated construction start, roughly 14 months of work |
| Second half of 2028 | Planned Bathhouse opening, pending rezoning and permits |
The order matters. The zoning hearing could come about three months before the final concert, and the sale is expected around the same season as the farewell. By the time the last band loads out, the main question about the building may already be settled.
The Marquee Stays Because Two Parties Chose to Keep It
Bathhouse says the facade and marquee will stay. Talmadge told the News that "customers will enter the bathhouse through the marquee that they were used to entering shows through," and that some signage may change. The Sundown building would be torn down and replaced with an addition attached to the theater. D Magazine reports a rooftop as part of the plan.
That same D Magazine summary also notes that the Granada has no historic protections from the City of Dallas. So the marquee is still standing because of two decisions, and no rule requires either one. The first decision belongs to the sellers. In their statement, Schoder and Garton wrote that they "turned down developers who envisioned hundreds of apartments and searched for a way to keep the music playing." The second belongs to the buyer, which looked at sites in Knox-Henderson, Uptown and Lower Greenville before picking this one. Talmadge said parking was one of the hardest things to find.
Elsewhere in Dallas, some older buildings have rules that attach preservation to the building itself. In Greenway Parks, for example, the conservation district ties bonus floor area to how much of the original exterior survives. The Granada has nothing like that. Its 1940s face survives because the people at the table want it to.
The face is worth protecting. Phil Isley Enterprises opened the Granada on Jan. 16, 1946, showing "Mildred Pierce." It was a 950-seat house designed by Raymond F. Smith, with a tower of changing neon. According to the theater's own history, the main hall still has original murals by the same artists who worked on Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, including a ceiling "film goddess" standing over a reel of film.
What the Rezoning Actually Asks For
The rezoning request was submitted Oct. 23, the day of the announcement. It covers the Granada, the Sundown and a parcel behind both buildings. Bathhouse is asking for a planned development district that would allow more lot coverage and more indoor space than the site has now.
The News describes a complex of about 50,000 square feet, mixing indoor and outdoor space. It would have five or six saunas, including an event sauna for more than 100 people, and five or six pools ranging from cold plunges to hot baths. Bathing suits would be required. Talmadge said the company would use what it learned in Philadelphia, where it recently opened a 36,000-square-foot facility inside the historic Bellevue Hotel. The pools would use conventional heaters. Talmadge said directly that the cryptocurrency mining used to heat water at other Bathhouse locations would not be part of the Dallas plan.
At the time of the News report, the company had no demolition permits on file for Sundown and had not named a local architect of record. Design is being handled by Bathhouse's internal team. "We'll be meeting with the city in the next couple months," Talmadge told the News. "It's really important to us to be good neighbors."
The sale, the rezoning and the construction timeline all depend on each other. Bathhouse's 2028 opening is pending rezoning and permit approval, and the sale is not expected until spring. Until then, the plan is a proposal with a hearing date attached.
Why the Music Was Ending Either Way
Bathhouse's co-founder has pushed back on the idea that his company ended the concerts.
"The thing that's been a little bit heartbreaking and frustrating is that the Granada is not closing because we are coming. The Granada was closing." Travis Talmadge, speaking to The Dallas Morning News
The owners' statement points to "rising costs, shifting audiences, and corporate consolidation" as the pressures squeezing independent venues. Schoder told D Magazine that attendance never returned to pre-COVID levels, even though the Granada was still hosting 125 to 150 shows a year. In other words, the room stayed busy and still stopped working as a business.
This explains why the sale looks the way it does. A venue that can't make money on music either goes to whoever pays most for the land or goes to a buyer who wants the building as it is. The owners have said they turned down apartment developers. That choice is why a neon marquee from 1946 is in the plan at all.
Not everyone accepts the outcome. A group called "Save the Granada Theater! Dallas, Texas" formed on Facebook and called a Veterans Day meeting at Halcyon in Lower Greenville. The Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate reports that its goals include finding private investors, grants or nonprofit ownership, and pursuing historic landmark designation so the Granada stays a performance venue. Since the deed hasn't transferred yet, the group still has time to make its case.
What's Left on the Marquee
The music calendar is the one that runs out first. As of early November, the Granada's official calendar listed these shows through spring:
- November: James McMurtry with BettySoo, Nov. 13. On Cinema, Nov. 14. The Wrecks, Nov. 17. Afghan Whigs, Nov. 20. Dad Rock Night, Nov. 21. Purple Faith, Nov. 27. Kawaii Rave, Nov. 28.
- December: Davide De Pierro, two shows on Dec. 5. Amorphis and Insomnium, Dec. 9. Ricki Derek, Dec. 12. Straight Tequila Night, Dec. 18. Victor Wooten and The Wooten Brothers, Dec. 19. Who's Best with Psycho Pony, Dec. 26. Steve Hofstetter, Dec. 30. Bob Schneider on New Year's Eve.
- January: Le Cure, Jan. 2. Thin White Dukes, Jan. 8. Whip It Fest, Jan. 9. Janeane Garofalo, Jan. 10. Bricks in the Wall, Jan. 28. Eddie 9V, Jan. 29. Can't Feel My Face, Jan. 30.
- February: KAMIJO, Feb. 6.
- March: Haken, March 5. Caskets, March 10. Eluveitie with Nini and Illumishade, March 11. Metal Church with Armored Saint and One Machine, March 21.
- April: Foy Vance, April 3 and 4. TWRP, April 13.
Schoder told D Magazine that a few local shows honoring bands the Granada has worked with over the years will probably be added. The owners have promised "one last run of shows, one last round of memories, and one heck of a farewell."
Some dates line up with the property calendar. Janeane Garofalo plays Jan. 10, about a week and a half before the earliest possible zoning hearing. Foy Vance's two nights in early April come right around when the sale is expected to close. Anyone who wants one more look at the murals and the neon tower has about five months, and the decisions that shape what happens next will be made during those same months.
The Granada fits a pattern elsewhere in the city. At Inwood Village, the landlord is counting on new shops to bring people back to the historic theater. On Greenville Avenue, a new use is being built behind the old marquee while the old use is still playing. And for Lakewood readers who follow how East Dallas keeps eating well while a single big project waits, the Granada is another corner where the timeline matters as much as the announcement.
Keeping a 1946 facade while building something new behind it is careful, sequenced work. At S&R Development, founder Saad Chehabi approaches it the same way on a smaller scale when a family wants to keep the face of an older house and add onto it. If you own a house with a street face worth saving, we would be glad to walk through what it takes. Contact Us.