Owners Of Fort Worth's Ridglea Theater File For Bankruptcy

For a while there, it appeared as if this morning could be something of a judgment day for Fort Worth's Ridglea Theater. Today, after all, was the day that the venue was set to face foreclosure, after the loan that the owners had received from a Dallas lender last year...

By Pete Freedman

August 4, 2009

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For a while there, it appeared as if this morning could be something of a judgment day for Fort Worth's Ridglea Theater. Today, after all, was the day that the venue was set to face foreclosure, after the loan that the owners had received from a Dallas lender last year when facing foreclosure had defaulted.

But, today, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, comes the news that the venue has again fought off foreclosure, at least for the time being, this time by filing for bankruptcy. In its Chapter 11 filing, the R.K. Maulsby Family Trust that owns the venue claims it is $1 million to $10 million in debt (about $40,000 of which is owed to the Fort Worth school district, oddly enough). It's been 18 years now that the Maulsby Trust has owned the Ridglea, and, according to the S-T, this most recent foreclosure threat was the fourth the venue had faced in the past two years alone.

Late last month, though, Richard and Wesley Hathaway, the current tenants of the the theater (the trust also owns the theater's adjoining office and retail spaces and, until recently, a nearby parking lot), sent out a note to the Fort Worth press announcing that they had no plans to halt their business, pointing out that their lease is still valid and that they plan on continuing to throw shows "until we decide to retire."

Whether this most recent development changes those plans isn't yet known. We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything on that front.

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