Frank Productions, a family-owned concert and events promotion company, won’t be the only bidder when the Orpheum Theater goes up for auction on Nov. 5. According to a report in Isthmus, Madisonian Gus Paras and his partner Henry Doane are also hoping to score the final bid.
While Frank Productions is partial to using the Orpheum, which first opened in 1927, as a music venue, Paras and Doane envision a restaurant, bar, and a venue for concerts, films, weddings, banquets, and even a comedy festival. Paras owns the Comedy Club on State.
Doane once shared ownership of the Orpheum with former partner Eric Fleming, and the two have been in legal battles over its demise ever since. Now the theater will come with $141,000 in liens against it for unpaid building code violations accumulated while Fleming was in control. After Monona State Bank foreclosed on the theater last fall, Frank Productions took over its management and has been hosting concerts at the venue.
There are other interested potential bidders out there as well, according to the article.
