Taylor Sheridan's investment company has purchased the Downtown Cowtown at the Isis, the historic Stockyards theater that sat dark for nearly three years after racking up $5.3 million in loan defaults and delinquent taxes. The company bought the property in December 2025, and SGS Supper Club — the venture owned by Sheridan, David Glasser and Dan Schryer — now plans to turn the century-old building into a 1920s-inspired Texas supper club.
The purchase, confirmed through Tarrant County records and reported by the Fort Worth Report, marks Sheridan's second major Stockyards acquisition in less than a year. His company bought the nearby Cattlemen's Steakhouse in summer 2025, and SGS later transformed that property into a venue combining a restaurant with a members-only club. Glasser told the outlet that SGS was drawn back to the district after seeing how Cattlemen's became a popular draw for both locals and tourists.
Construction on the Isis project is expected to begin soon, according to Glasser, though the owners have not settled on an opening date while the design phase continues. He said the group is in no hurry. “We’re not rushing any of the projects that we have,” Glasser said. “Our goal is to get it right and to make sure everybody’s happy with it.”
What a 1920s Supper Club Could Look Like
A Texas supper club typically combines dinner with a live show, and Glasser said the reimagined Isis will aim to evoke the era in which the building first opened. The owners intend to keep the theater's exterior consistent with how it has looked for years, preserving a facade that has anchored the North Main Street corridor at 2401 N. Main St. for more than a century. Glasser did not elaborate on whether the venue's roughly 500 seats will be removed as part of the redesign.
Historic preservation advocate John Roberts, founder of Architecture Fort Worth, said he hopes the existing theater space can be maintained largely as it is, calling the building's revival a major draw for the corridor. Fort Worth Stockyards Inc. President and CEO Paul Paine said the project is very positive for the historic district, which includes the Isis as part of both the Stockyards National Register Historic District and the city's own Stockyards Historic District, according to Architecture in Fort Worth.
A Theater That Has Survived Fire, Flood and Foreclosure
The Isis was one of Fort Worth's first movie-screening venues, though accounts differ on exactly when it opened: the Fort Worth Report states it was built in 1913 in a style showcasing Victorian grandeur, while Fort Worth Business reports the original Isis Theatre opened May 21, 1914, with a showing of two films. A large fire destroyed the building in 1935, and it was rebuilt in Art Deco style, reopening as the New Isis Theater the following year. The theater later underwent extensive repairs after the 1942 Marine Creek flood brought heavy mud and water damage to the Stockyards.
Ownership changed hands repeatedly over the following decades. Leonard Clark Tidball owned the theater for more than 50 years until his death in 1966, and Harold Griffith purchased the property in 1970. Northside children picketed outside the building in 1974 to protest R-rated movie showings, and the theater eventually closed in 1988. It later sustained minor smoke damage in November 1995 when a five-alarm fire destroyed the neighboring Sullivan's, and the property changed ownership at least three times between 2005 and 2014.
Jeffrey Smith and Debbie Garrett-Smith led a four-year renovation that brought the building back in 2021 as the Downtown Cowtown at the Isis. Smith said he was saddened the building had been neglected and wanted it restored so people could see it again. Richard J. Roth, who manages Northside Historic Theater LLC — the property's most recent owner before Sheridan's company stepped in — said he wished the new owners well and was glad to see the building return to business after it closed in late November 2023.
Stockyards Momentum Keeps Building
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker described the Isis as having a “long, rich history” and as an “incredibly nostalgic place” for many residents and visitors, and called the SGS project especially exciting. She noted that dozens of developers and investors are working on transformative projects across the Stockyards right now. That broader push includes a separate $630 million second-phase development from Majestic Realty and the Hickman Groups partnership, a sign of how much capital is flowing into the historic district alongside Sheridan's purchases.
Sheridan, known for creating the television series Landman and Lioness as well as the upcoming Frisco King, has built a business presence in the Stockyards through acquisitions of the Isis and Cattlemen's. Whether the Isis keeps its roughly 500 seats or sees a different layout emerge from the design phase remains an open question the owners haven't answered. For now, the goal both Glasser and local leaders have pointed to is straightforward: preserve and restore the Stockyards' character while giving the long-dormant theater a new life.
