An abandoned Hill Country cinema may be getting a second life

Fredericksburg's former Fritztown Theater is poised to become Outlaw, a new venue for film, music and entertainment, according to prospective co-owner, Luke Coffee.

A new Hill Country entertainment hub is headed to one of the region's fastest-growing towns, and it seems to promise a wild second act for an adored, shuttered local cinema along the way.

Miles away from Fredericksburg's Main Street, the former Fritztown Cinema and The Backyard Amphitheater, which once served as a prized concert space, event venue, and the sole movie theater, is now poised to become Outlaw, a honky-tonk-style destination for a "new generation" of music, film and dining in the Texas Hill Country.

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The property, owned by the Austin-based Elevate Entertainment (formerly EVO Entertainment) since 2019, is now under contract for sale, according to a brand representative.

While the company would not confirm who it was selling to, one Texas-based actor and filmmaker tells MySA that he plans to reinvent a place the community already knows.

A post shared by OUTLAW | Fredericksburg (@outlawtexashq)

Luke Coffee is one of three developers taking over the destination. On August 20, he shared a social media post announcing his vision to breathe new life into the shuttered facility.

Coffee brings a complicated history to the development. He was prosecuted for his involvement in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol, where images captured him holding a crutch above his head. As a religious man who says he now mostly has a distaste for politics, he tells MySA that he was praying and trying to de-escalate the situation as tensions began to rise and the protest grew violent. He disputes how his actions have been portrayed.

The project's name came to Coffee a few years ago, before the Capitol insurrection, he says. He told MySA he's been humbled by the fallout from his involvement and doesn't want what he hopes the project will become to be overshadowed by those ties.

“This project is not about Luke Coffee,” he told MySA. “I may be the visionary behind it, but there’s a team of people behind me."

The prospective co-owner says he'll reshape the effectively abandoned venue into something entirely new. Coffee says that when first exploring the property early in the project, the defunct cinema was lost to time, describing its current state as "apocalyptic."

“[T]he Slurpee machines are in there. The speakers for the outdoor venue –– they left all the projectors. My inspectors found a hot dog. It’s been there for 5 years," he laughed. "They just left everything.”

Early project plans outline a 3,000-seat outdoor music venue, at least two movie theaters, a restaurant, multiple stages and a rooftop bar. There will also be live music, of course and experiential movie screenings. Folks will eventually have access to a podcast and media studio, live concert recording operations, family and community programming, and maybe even a soundstage for movies one day. He also envisions artist incubator opportunities for local painters, singers, actors and musicians.

"We also hope to make space for faith, community and storytelling that reflects the heart of the Hill Country," Coffee shared.

He says the deal on the old cinema is expected to be finalized in early September, and within a few months, he hopes to host the venue's first concerts.