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Just before 10 p.m. one recent Friday, Fort Worth guitarist Michael Lackey stands onstage at the Ridglea Theater.
A small knot of people gather near the foot of the stage, watching as his liquid riffs spill out into the cavernous, dimly lit space. The rippling, keening sound echoes off the elegant, aged stucco walls. Other audience members order shots from the bar, or smoke and talk or play pool.There are perhaps 100 bodies milling around a venue that can comfortably hold 10 times that number, an embarrassing turnout for a Friday-night show in a city of Fort Worth’s size.It was not always this way.For the past decade, the Ridglea Theater, owned by the R.K. Maulsby Family Trust since 1976 and leased by husband/wife team Richard Van Zandt and Wesley Hathaway since 1998, has undergone profound change. Artists like Willie Nelson, Stereolab and, as recently as 2005, Death Cab for Cutie once populated a bustling concert calendar, often drawing sellout crowds. Now, the stage frequently hosts little-known local hard-rock and metal bands, with a smattering of touring acts, country groups and local-boys-done-good like Bowling for Soup and Toadies. What happened? Plenty. The economy, which has body-slammed hole-in-the-wall clubs and gigantic arenas alike, made an already tight financial situation for the club even more unforgiving. Add the arrival of corporate competitors to the east, the tenants’ lack of resources, an ownership situation that could charitably have been called turbulent and persistent rumors of the theater’s imminent demise, and you begin to understand that the Ridglea’s rapid slide from relevance is no ordinary rough patch. No surprise then that the Maulsby Family Trust filed for Chapter 11 protection in July and, with the clock ticking, was facing the possibility of foreclosure.Then on Thursday, six days before the bankruptcy court’s deadline, Dallas-based investment company FixFunding LLC bought the Ridglea Theater for $1.85 million. The property was acquired via a deed in lieu of foreclosure, which, according to an Oct. 29 Star-Telegram article, is "a less-costly process that allows a borrower to return the property to the lender. The borrower is released from the defaulted loan and avoids the public stigma of a foreclosure, while the lender avoids extra time and cost involved in repossession."It’s not yet known what FixFunding LLC, which could not be reached for comment, intends to do with the property, although sources say that representatives from the investment company have recently toured the building.Regardless of what turn this saga takes next, the Ridglea sits at a heartbreaking crossroads. "[The] Ridglea has a lot of character and importance in Fort Worth’s musical culture but has lost the majority of its importance as shows have moved to smaller, more intimate venues," says the Burning Hotels’ Chance Morgan. "In the past, I enjoyed going to the Ridglea, but no one goes there . . . unless it’s to see metal shows. It’s a venue of the past."
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