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Historic rehabilitation

Historic Forest District Building

Scale
Approximately 12,000 SF
Role
General Contractor
Client
St. Philip's School and Community Center
The vacant historic Forest District building before rehabilitation
Temporary public photography. Credit TREC.

Overview

Built in 1913, the red-brick commercial building at 1632 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard had become vacant and deteriorated. As part of the Dallas Catalyst Project: Forest District, St. Philip's hired Simply Custom to rehabilitate the property and prepare it for new tenants.

1632 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, South Dallas. Delivered within the Dallas Catalyst Project: Forest District and TREC context. The building was built in 1913.

Exterior and site

The entire exterior was rehabilitated, including major front reconstruction—not merely a facade renovation.

  • Brick and masonry work
  • Salvaged usable original exterior brick blended into new work
  • Storefronts and windows
  • Exterior doors
  • Roofing and drainage
  • Paint and finishes
  • Lighting and electrical
  • Accessibility
  • Civil work and new parking where none existed

Whole-building white box

  • Interior demolition
  • Framing and drywall
  • Electrical and plumbing distribution
  • HVAC
  • Fire protection
  • Restrooms and accessibility
  • Ceilings and lighting
  • Concrete and flooring preparation
  • Operational HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire protection at turnover
  • Capped tenant utilities

The building today

The property now supports Ruthie's Cafe and Baylor Scott & White Community Care–St. Philip's. Simply Custom later delivered Ruthie's Cafe as a separate design-build project.

Result

A renewed commercial property, ready for tenant-specific construction and occupancy, returning an established South Dallas building to productive community use.

Construction work underway at the Forest District building
Temporary public photography. Credit TREC.
Restored and salvaged brick masonry detail
Temporary public photography. Credit CandysDirt / Micah Moore.
Completed storefront of the Forest District building
Temporary public photography. Credit CultureMap / Google.

Related project: Ruthie's Cafe

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