The nearly 80-year-old Garden Oaks Theater on North Shepherd is now a hollow shell. After Grace Church sold the former neighborhood movie house last fall, the building sits empty, its future murky enough that preservationists are sounding the alarm that the neon marquee and murals could vanish before anyone outside the deal gets a real say. Public records show an investment group paid roughly $7.1 million for the property, and advocates say interior fixtures like seats and metal railings have already been hauled out. With no reuse plan visible from the street, neighbors and film buffs are scrambling to push for options that keep the building’s character alive rather than flatten it.
Sale and current condition
Harris County records show that Grace…..