(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Only a week after the sudden departure of promoters Charles Attal Presents and the House Of Blues, the recently defunct Madison Theater in Covington, Kentucky, is already being focused on by the city redevelopment committee.
The venue closed its doors suddenly in early August after the promoters could not negotiate a purchase price with banks that were threatening to foreclose on the property, according to The Sunday Challenger.
Charles Attal Presents began booking the property in February, when the threat of foreclosure was already in the air. Eventually, the banks demanded that Attal purchase the property or leave.
City officials, who had described the theater’s resurgence as a vital part of the on-going revitalization of the downtown Covington area, plan to work to figure out the future of the club, but insist that the loss will not impede on the city’s development strategy.
“Obviously it’s a disappointment, but I don’t think it’s going to curtail the momentum that we’re seeing,” Beth Robinson, Covington’s small business retention and recruitment officer, told the Challenger.
“We had a lot of interest from people wanting to do nighttime kind of venues, like bars and restaurants,” she continued. “That may be affected in the short run, but certainly the interest in doing retail and housing is not going to stop.”
Covington Mayor Butch Callery and City Manager Jay Fossett are both confident that the Madison Theater will re-open.
“Honestly, I just feel that the theater will draw some other interest. I would be willing to bet it's locally, because it seems like it did very well and I think there might be some people interested in it now when they saw what it could do with big-name acts,” Mayor Callery told the paper.
Fossett said that the city is looking at a few options but he hopes the building remains a live music venue. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
