- The operators of a Covington landmark announced a closure Friday, but the building’s landlord is disputing this.
- The exact reason for the separation between the operators and the buildings’ owner isn’t precisely clear, although there are some possibilities based on available information
- The owners hope to have the venue running again in ‘the next couple of weeks’
Despite Madison Theater announcing Friday it was closing, the venue owner’s lawyer told LINK nky that’s not actually the case.
Attorney Dave Kruer said the venue is “not permanently closed,” but that operator Frank Hulefeld simply “can’t operate there anymore.”
The announcement cited “sudden termination of our lease” as the reason behind the abrupt closure.
Hulefeld operates an LLC called Madison Theater Presents, which has been running the venue since 2021. Hulefeld formerly owned the Madhatter on Scott Boulevard in Covington. LINK nky has reached out Hulefeld multiple times since the news broke, but he has not responded to comment or provide additional information.
The theater’s landlord is an LLC called ENC Properties, which owns three buildings on Madison, including the ones that make up the venue. ENC Properties has a Lillian Esther Johnson listed as its registered agent with the state of Kentucky. Johnson and her husband own a house in Taylor Mill, according to Kenton County Property records.
LINK nky was not able to reach Johnson directly but Kruer said she used to operate the venue herself.
Kruer said the goal was to have the venue “opened under a new operator within the next couple of weeks.”
Although he said some companies had been lined up, he was not at liberty to say which ones.
So, what happened?
Much is still unknown about the circumstances of the closure, but there is some information that’s publicly available. Hulefeld’s announcement mentions the revocation of the venue’s insurance policy after a patron fell on one of the venue’s interior stairways.
A lawsuit against ENC Properties and the theater was filed in Kenton County Circuit Court on Oct. 28 by Florence resident Sheryl Zollars. According to the text of Zollars’ complaint, Zollars fell and sustained injuries inside the theater in early November 2024.
The suit alleges that the venue should have been aware of any hazards in the building, and that it should have warned patrons accordingly.
“The dangerous conditions in Defendants’ premises included, but were not limited to, the lack of a handrail and inadequate lighting for the stairway…,” reads the complaint. “The Defendants should have anticipated the incident on the stairway that caused Plaintiff’s injuries.”
The complaint goes on to allege the stairway’s conditions could have possibly violated building codes.
The theater denied many of the allegations in its answer to the complaint, and details about the extent of Zollars’ injuries are not included in the court documents.
The court granted a default judgement in favor of Zollars in January. A hearing was held the same month, and the theater later filed a motion for discovery of evidence in February. A deposition of Zollars was initially scheduled for June 10, but this was later rescheduled.
Zollars’ lawyer Scott Guenther did not know if his client’s case contributed to the rift between the Madison Theater Presents and ENC; he knew as much as what he’d seen in the news, he said. LINK nky sent a list of questions to Guenther to pass along to Zollars. We will update this story if Zollars responds.
A lawyer representing ENC and Madison Theater Presents in that suit, Daniel Martell, declined to comment altogether. Kruer could not discuss if the lawsuit played a role in the two entities’ separation.
There are three other lawsuits against ENC Properties and the theater in the Kenton County Court database, two of which are at least nine years old. The last one is a foreclosure case due to outstanding tax liens, filed on May 14 against one of ENC’s properties, but Kruer said that outstanding tax liens against ENC’s properties should be resolved in the near future. LINK nky has reached out to the city for more information.
A hearing related to an incident of crowd control at the theater took place in front of the city’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board on Thursday, but there’s no indication that incident relates to the theater’s closure. Kruer explicitly denied it played a role.
As for the venue’s future shows, Kruer said “we’re working on trying to get a transition in effect” and that more information would be released once things were finalized.
Anyone with any information about the case that led to the theater’s closure or the future of the shows scheduled at the venue can contact LINK nky at news@linknky.com to speak to a reporter. Anonymous tips are welcome. We will make updates to this story as more information becomes available.
Kane Mitten contributed reporting to this story.
