Frank Productions’ Venue Plan Challenged

The proposal, submitted in conjunction with local developer Gebhardt Development, features the venue as a cornerstone of a $69 million mixed-use project and is expected to break ground in late 2015, with doors opening in 2017.

Meanwhile, another promoter in the city is crying foul over a previous deal with Gebhardt to build a 1,500-cap venue that fell apart just weeks before the Frank proposal was greenlighted.

T-Presents’ Toffer Christensen, who grew up in Madison, told Pollstar his team began working with Gebhardt about two years ago on a venue proposal, which was later approved by the city.

“Working out of my office in Brooklyn at the time this idea was hatched, I moved my business and family back to Madison a year and a half ago so that I could be closer to the project,” Christensen said.

The plan began to take shape but Christensen claims that while negotiating the finer points of the purchase agreement with Gebhardt about six weeks ago, deal terms began to shift and the developer stopped replying to emails and phone calls.

“I was told straight to my face less than two weeks ago from the lead realtor they were not talking to anyone else about the project, which proved to be untrue,” Christensen said. “I even at one point texted the developer’s architect saying, ‘I feel like I’m being Franked here,’ to which he did not reply. The developer then sent us a letter saying he was ceasing negotiations and provided no founded reasons for doing so.”

Frank Productions President Charlie Goldstone told Pollstar Gebhardt only reached out to the company after the developer couldn’t agree on terms with Christensen.

“They approached us and asked us if we were interested in pursuing it because of that,” he said. “We were [interested], because we had pursued a venue at a different location elsewhere last year. We sat down with the developer and our architects, saw if what we wanted to do could fit within their plans and they decided to move forward with us.”

There’s a difference in capacity between the two proposals, and Christensen contends the Frank Productions plan for a bigger building likely “meant over twice as much money the developer would make, giving him great motivation to squeeze me out,” which could “ultimately hurt existing businesses like the Orpheum and the city owned Overture Hall.”

Goldstone said the proposed venue will give Frank Productions “the room we need to produce larger scale shows at a venue that we’ll be able to scale down to about 1,500 to 1,600 for smaller shows. It’s going to be very flexible.”

Christensen has appealed to the city to reopen the RFP process, claiming Gebhardt has acted unethically and is trying to slide in a much bigger room that the city did not originally approve.

But for Frank Productions, working with Gebhardt, one of the most well-known developers in the city, simply makes sense.

“[Otto Gebhardt III] has an incredibly good track record, which is why the city works with him time and time again,” Goldstone said. “We’re really excited to be working with him because I think we’re going to accomplish a lot of great things.”