Drive down North Gray Street on a Friday night this month and you'll pass several open businesses worth stopping for. One block up, a rendering of a restored movie theater sits taped inside the window of a building that's sat vacant for years. Downtown Killeen has had several notable milestones: its Main Street designation, an award-winning brewery, and millions in investment. For a night out or a visit with family, it helps to know what is open and what is still planned.
Downtown's current activity is concentrated on a specific stretch of North Gray Street and one corner of Avenue D. The former theater remains vacant, with a rendering showing a possible future use.
Open Businesses on Gray Street
Start with Vida Roxy. The bar and restaurant opened at 321 N. Gray St. in December, and the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce cut the ribbon on Dec. 19 alongside local leaders and community members. It's the kind of anchor a stretch of street needs: cocktails, a full kitchen, and a reason to park downtown after dark instead of just during a lunch break.
A few doors down, Brick and Barrel at 415 N. Gray St. has become downtown's unofficial living room for civic moments. When Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott came through in May to mark Killeen's new designation as a Texas Main Street city, this is where the event was held, not city hall, not a hotel ballroom.
Then there's Southern Roots Brewing Company, built inside the old Hack's Army Western Wear building. That building sat empty for years after decades of use dating back to the 1940s. The conversion won Killeen and the brewery a 2025 Texas Downtown President's Award for Best Economic Game Changer, the kind of recognition that puts a small Central Texas city in the same conversation as much larger downtowns doing similar work.
Three businesses are open within a few blocks of one another on Gray Street.
The Center Theatre Project
Right next to Brick and Barrel sits the old Center Theatre at 409 N. Gray St. It's vacant. It has been for a while. When the Texas Historical Commission's design team came through with the First Lady in May, they unveiled a conceptual drawing of what the theater could become as a community gathering space someday. The drawing shows a possible future use for the vacant theater.
The distinction between a designation and a completed project is important. The Main Street designation Killeen earned in November 2025 is real and it matters, because it opens the door to state and federal historic tax credits that can make a project like the Center Theatre financially possible for a developer who otherwise wouldn't touch a demolished-to-the-studs building. But a designation is a set of tools, not a finished project. The city itself restructured its Downtown Advisory Committee into a formal Main Street Board in March specifically to meet the state's requirements and start pulling those tools off the shelf. Those steps describe the city's organization of the Main Street program; the theater remains vacant.
What's Open and Planned on Avenue D
Gray Street is where the bars and brewery landed, while Avenue D is adding daytime activity. The Secret Shop is one example.
The Secret Shop opened at 301 E. Avenue D in June. By day it's a coffeehouse. By night the same space turns into a speakeasy, with cocktails and small plates replacing the coffee menu. The arrangement gives the block activity at both ends of the day.
More businesses are planned for Avenue D. City announcements from earlier this year named On What Grounds Coffeehouse, an independent bookstore called The Scarlet Page focused on Black and queer romance titles, and Strikeout Wingz as expected to open on the block. None had confirmed opening dates as of this writing, so they remain planned additions rather than confirmed openings.
Downtown Revitalization and Public Safety
In August, the Killeen Police Department formed a Downtown Revitalization Unit, with six officers assigned exclusively to a zone stretching from 10th Street to College Street and from Veterans Memorial Boulevard to Rancier Avenue. The unit focuses on community policing, walking the same blocks where Vida Roxy and Southern Roots and The Secret Shop are trying to build regular customers.
In its report on the unit, KWTX quoted downtown business owner Evans:
"I think we all know that downtown Killeen had a reputation for many years."
The buildings are filling in. The investment is real, more than $15.6 million between 2023 and 2024 alone according to the city's own downtown business directory report. But perception moves slower than construction. Downtown's comeback is still being built, block by block, one first-time visitor at a time.
Two Upcoming Downtown Events
If you want to visit downtown Killeen, these two events offer dated reasons to go before the weather turns.
- Flavors of Central Texas, Aug. 29 at the Killeen Special Events Center. A food event built around barbecue, Tex-Mex, and desserts from across the region.
- Killeen Boots Brews & BBQ Festival, Sept. 5, at 200 E. Avenue D in downtown Killeen. This one puts you on the actual blocks we've been talking about, close enough to walk to Vida Roxy or Southern Roots afterward.
Either event offers a chance to visit downtown. Walk past the Center Theatre on your way in and notice whether the rendering in the window has changed. The rendering is a visible reminder that the theater remains vacant.
Downtown Killeen is still developing. It has come a long way over the past three years, while its open businesses remain concentrated in a small area. Knowing what is open can help you plan a night out.
We spend our days building homes and helping families settle into Central Texas neighborhoods, and paying attention to what's actually happening on the ground, not just what gets announced, is part of that work. If you're thinking about where in this region you'd want to put down roots, Wayfinder Builders can walk you through what's open and what's planned in Killeen and everywhere else we build.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
