The Atlanta Business League hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Historic Ashby Theatre’s renovation on Aug. 29, kicking off a long-standing plan to transform the historic building into a community and business hub in Westside Atlanta.
Over the next few weeks, architects and engineers will pioneer the first phase: program planning and designing the direction of the building’s renovations. From there, the team will begin renovation on the theater – preserving what’s possible and remodeling what can’t be salvaged.
Once completed, the transformed theater will extend the 91-year-old Atlanta Business League’s presence. The offices are currently next to the Ashby in the building that housed the country’s first Black travel agency, Henderson Travel Service. Business league and city leaders hope the destination will help make the area off of M.L.K Jr. Drive a historic and community hub.
“I believe that the start of what we’re doing here today is repositioning us to imagine a corridor, a neighborhood, a community, a city,” Atlanta Business League Board Chair Ryan Wilson said. “When people think about all of the resources that they want to make sure that are available to them, that they exist.”
It’s a return to the area’s historic position as a hub for Black culture in the city. Ashby Street Theatre opened in 1934 as one of the first theaters to serve Atlanta’s African American community.
“Ashby Street Theater was originally established during a time when segregation was prevalent and African Americans were often excluded from mainstream entertainment venues,” Atlanta Business League CEO Leona Barr-Davenport said. “As a result, theaters like Ashby Street became vital cultural hubs for black communities, showcasing live performances and other forms of entertainment that cater to African Americans.”
Davenport said the locale was also a gathering spot for activists and community leaders. Shirley Coleman, the daughter of Henderson Travel Service owners Freddye and Jake Henderson, joked that the theater was “her babysitter” when the travel agency was busy.
But the theater declined over the years and shuttered in 1974. It’s remained empty since then, with original lead paint, asbestos and a leaking roof damaging the space for decades. In 2002, the Atlanta Business League bought the building due to a proposal from Barr-Davenport. She envisioned the space as a possible center or “true headquarters” for the league.
After buying the property though, it sat unoccupied and unmaintained. It wasn’t until the late 2010s that Barr-Davenport’s original idea started to gain traction. The CEO credits developer Ed Bowen with pushing for the property’s potential, previous ABL Board Chair Egbert Perry with listening to her proposal and board member Eric Pinckney with being “a major ingredient” in the process.
“It’s been a combination,” Barr-Davenport said. “It’s like making a cake; it’s been a combination of ingredients.”
The onset of COVID-19 paused plans until former board chair Al Edwards brought landscape architect and historic preservation specialist Jay Scott to the table. Scott’s grant writing funded preservation projects like Mother Trinity Church in Augusta and the Historic West Center Street Baptist Church in Atlanta.
“Some people don’t think it was important to restore this, but this was the first theater in the area where African Americans could go in the front door to see the theater instead of through the fire escape,” Scott said.
Scott earned two grants for the Ashby Theatre, each valued at $750,000. With $1.5 million from the National Parks Service, the business league could finally begin its transformation.
“It feels like the train is leaving the station,” Barr-Davenport said. “It really is starting to be getting revved up and ready to go.”
The National Parks Service grants will require the league to maintain some elements of the historical property, and staff are eyeing parts of the projection room and stage to preserve and display. Barr-Davenport said engineers found the building to be “sturdy,” so most of the renovations will focus on internal woodwork and the leaking roof.
While the added funds kicked off a long-awaited goal, they won’t bankroll the entire project. The nearly 6,000-square-foot property is set to include a small and flexible conference space for talks and gatherings, meeting rooms, training spaces and a podcast studio. Businessman Dr. William Pickard committed $1 million to the creation of a “Black Business Hall of Fame” to celebrate the annual honorees.
For the rest of the funding, Barr-Davenport said the league is looking at both small-dollar community donations and larger grant funding.
“We want the community, and we want the business owners and members of the Atlanta Business League to have a vested interest in the organization and in the development,” Barr-Davenport said.
The CEO highlighted community as a focus and a goal for the development, which will provide a new home for the league’s training and resources. She said the theater is about “preserving legacy, but also creating a space for the community.”
Some Atlanta leaders see the Ashby Theatre as part of a larger historical commitment to the Westside. Former Atlanta Business League Board Chair and businessman Milton Jones and Atlanta City Council District 3 Member Byron Amos aim to add a Heritage Trail designation along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
Jones said the trail would make the historic renovation “even more lasting and important as an effort.”
“If you think about Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from Martin Luther King and Northside drive to Martin Luther King and White House, you have an area that is full of our history,” Jones said.
Councilmember Amos said his proposal, which he also hopes will discourage loitering and promote economic growth, is currently in the hands of the planning department.
The Heritage Trail designation would display the legacy of the mile-long stretch from the site of the “Dome,” replaced by Mercedes-Benz Stadium, past Booker T. Washington High School and over towards the Atlanta Business League’s headquarters.
To the business league, the theater is another piece of that historic puzzle.
“What it will do is create another element of community,” Barr-Davenport said. “So that’s how we see it fitting in and becoming a part of history and of the future.”
