Former owner of The Space claims deal to sell it not honored

Steve Rodgers, former owner of The Space, The Outer Space and The Ballroom at The Outer Space, says the new owners of what is now the Space Ballroom Monday went behind his back and reneged on an agreement to pay him for elements of the business. less Steve Rodgers, former owner of The Space, The Outer Space and The Ballroom at The Outer Space, says the new owners of what is now the Space Ballroom Monday went behind his back and reneged on an agreement to ... more Photo: Mark Zaretsky / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Mark Zaretsky / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Former owner of The Space claims deal to sell it not honored 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

HAMDEN — Steve Rodgers, former owner of The Space, The Outer Space and The Ballroom at The Outer Space, all which closed in December, accused the new owners of what is now the Space Ballroom Monday of going behind his back and reneging on an agreement to take over the business.

The CEO of Premier Concerts, Keith Mahler, responded, “We didn’t buy a business from Steve Rodgers” and suggested, “The next time Steve Rodgers tells the real story will be the first time.”

Rodgers, who has had two sets of surgery in recent months and was not available when the complex in the Treadwell Business Park at 295 Treadwell St. closed, had not spoken publicly about the closure since then — until Monday.

On Monday, he emerged to tell his side of the story, inviting two reporters who have written about the issue in the past to his home.

According to Rodgers, he and representatives of Premier Concerts and Manic Presents reached a “handshake agreement” late last year after he accepted an offer that he said was “much lower” than he would have liked.

Then, Rodgers says, they “went behind my back” and negotiated their own deal with the landlord — something they were able to do because his signed lease had run out two years ago, he failed to file a notice that he wanted to extend it and he was behind in his rent, he said.

While he fell behind, “we tried to be the best tenants that we could,” he said. “We made an effort to catch up and the landlord was very good with us.”

Based on the handshake agreement, Rodgers’ wife, Jesse — acting in Rodgers’ place while he was laid up following first abdominal and then vocal cord surgery — provided Premier and Manic access to the facility as well as to its email account, websites and social media accounts, for which they had agreed to pay an undisclosed sum, Rodgers said.

But they never paid it, he said.

“Basically, Manic/Premier worked out a deal with our landlord and ... haven’t returned our lawyer’s calls since,” Rodgers said.

The Space and The Outer Space/Ballroom closed in late December. The latter two reopened after Jan. 1 as the Space Ballroom.

Rodgers and Manic founder Mark Nussbaum, who now works for Premier as senior talent buyer and has been booking shows at The Space and The Outer Space — and been a good friend of Rodgers — for years, previously had combined their email mailing lists, Rodgers said.

“I’m really bummed out about the way things went ... and I hope that they do the right thing,” Rodgers said.

Asked what he thought “the right thing” might be, Rodgers said, “I think the right thing would be to settle up with us on what they agreed to.”

As it stands, “I will personally have debt that follows me around,” Rodgers said.

When asked about Rodgers’ contention that he had reneged on their agreement, Mahler did not respond directly.

“I take the high road on everything,” he said. But he added, “The next time Steve Rodgers tells the real story will be the first time. ... Anything that was presented to us ... by his financial adviser, was incorrect.

“I’m sure we’ll end up on a creditors’ list somewhere with Steve Rodgers when it becomes public,” said Mahler, calling from Florida, where he was on vacation.

Asked again about their deal, Mahler talked about all the work his company has done to renovate the facility and said, “Let’s put it this way ... if Steve Rodgers wants to do what it seems he’s attempting to do, through the media, he’s in for a rude awakening.”

He acknowledged that “we made a deal with the landlord to have a place that was terminated put back,” and said, “We were able to succeed in spite of the former ownership of the venue.

“When people represent things. They should be represented truthfully,” Mahler said. “Plain and simple. Steve likes to whine because he thinks he’ll get public sympathy.”

Nussbaum did not immediately return calls for comment.

Rodgers said he entered the hospital in November, initially for an undisclosed ailment, and reached the decision with his wife to try to sell The Outer Space because “it didn’t really leave me the time for family life and I couldn’t get healthy.”

He also said, “The Outer Space and The Space had financially struggled” and “that weighed heavily on me, personally.”

Rodgers said he earlier had made the difficult decision over the course of last summer that he needed to step away from The Space, his original, all-ages club.

“The Space was simply draining me and taking away from my time from ... my family,” he said. Steve and Jesse Rodgers are the parents of two children, a 13-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy.

Over the past couple of years, “I had a couple of buyers approach me to purchase The Outer Space,” Rodgers said. However, when they inquired, “I didn’t want to sell The Outer Space. ... I dragged my feet. I wasn’t ready.”

When he met with some potential buyers and/or successors,” “I didn’t expect to get much out of it, but I wanted to see it continue.” But nothing came of those meetings, he said.

“Then, when I was in the hospital in November, our business consultant contacted Mark and Premier about possibly buying The Outer Space. So a meeting was set up,” he said. “We were offered an amount of money, and we decided” that while it was “much lower” than they would have liked, “that ... we would take it.”

At that point, “we gave over full access to our website, social media, email, full access to the venue,” Rodgers said, and “they said they were going to take over beginning in January.”

Jesse Rodgers, who had not previously been involved in running the business, said she felt “full-court pressure” to give Premier and Manic what they needed before the end of the year.

Shortly after that, “we had a couple of (potential) buyers step forward. But we told them that we already had an agreement with Manic,” said Steve Rodgers.

Steve Rodgers said “it’s just a bummer” the way things ended. “I mean, I’ve put 15 years of my time into building a scene, and it feels like just a sad ending.”

But while he missed running The Space, The Outer Space and The Ballroom, the one good thing, he said, is that now, “I’m putting a lot of time in with my family.”

“Quite frankly,” said Jesse Rodgers, “our family life has been transformed.”

As for the future, Steve Rodgers said he doesn’t yet know what he’ll do.

“I’m just spending time with my kids right now” and “I’m an open door,” he said. “I’m sort of re-exploring my identity. My identity’s very tied up with The Space. I mean, I toured with Mighty Purple for a long time ... and then I started presenting shows” and opened The Space.

He had been doing that for the past decade.

“Whatever I do next, I want it to involve making the world a better place, that’s all,” Rodgers said.