Transform 1012 Arts Center Approved in Fort Worth's Northside

The Transform 1012 Center for Arts and Community Healing, also known as the Fred Rouse Center, is approved at 1012 N. Main St. in Fort Worth's Northside. The three-story, 35,000-square-foot project will adapt a 1924 building that opened as the Ku Klux Klan Auditorium and served as the KKK's Texas headquarters. Transform 1012 N. Main Street is developing, with design by B-arn-S Architects and ch_studio.

Amenities include a 250-seat theater, two dance rehearsal spaces, exhibition galleries, classrooms, a makerspace and tool library, a marketplace, an amphitheater and public park, a rooftop terrace with community garden, co-working space, wellness environments, and storybooths. An exhibit will cover the building's Klan history and the life of Fred Rouse, a Black butcher lynched in Fort Worth in 1921.

The adaptive reuse effort began in 2019. Transform 1012 acquired the building in early 2022 via donation from Sugarplum Holdings, with the Rainwater Charitable Foundation covering the property cost. Rising construction costs pushed the capital campaign from $43 million in 2022 to $70 million. Roughly $13 million is secured through grants and donations, including $3 million in federal funding in 2022. The Projects Group has served as Owner's Representative and Project Manager since 2020. Selective demolition has diverted more than 195 tons of material from landfills.

Construction is targeted for summer 2027, with opening in winter 2028. The building may qualify for the National Register of Historic Places and local landmark recognition but has not been fully assessed. Phase II calls for affordable live/work space for artists and potential mixed-income or permanent supportive housing.