South Dallas’ “Game of Thrones” real estate market

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“Land is king.”

That’s what Elizabeth Wattley told us when we asked her why Forest Forward purchased 20+ parcels around the Forest Theater over the last several years. The nonprofit that Wattley helms has pivoted from simply restoring the historic South Dallas theater to revitalizing the neighborhood.

And to revitalize the neighborhood, “we needed to be able to build, and we had to own the land,” Wattley says.

It’s also significant that this is the first time in the theater’s 75-year history that it is owned by a Black-led entity. South Dallas became a primarily Black neighborhood in the 1940s and ’50s, despite the fact that the federal government advised banks not to award home mortgage loans in the “red-lined” neighborhood.

The effect of redlining was a decades-long devaluing of land in Black and Brown neighborhoods, robbing these working-class and middle-class families of the potential to build generational wealth that was afforded to their white counterparts.

Only recently has the government (and therefore investors and developers) declared the land in South Dallas to be valuable. For example, one of the vacant residential lots Forest Forward now owns was appraised for $7,650 in 2019; it’s now valued at $99,500 — a 1200% increase in just four years.

It’s a similar story across South Dallas, and the result is longtime homeowners on fixed incomes at threat of losing their homes due to rising property taxes, as well as a “Game of Thrones”-esque real estate market, as Wattley describes it.

Who owns the land in South Dallas? What does this mean for South Dallas residents, property owners, churches and nonprofits?

These are questions we will continue to pursue  in our reporting. Read our piece about Forest Forward’s landholdings and  peruse this map to see the properties the nonprofit owns.