Seattle’s Crocodile music venue up for sale after accumulating $1.6M in debt

The popular live music venue in Seattle, The Crocodile, has announced that, after 35 years of independent ownership, it is now up for sale, having accrued roughly $1.6 million in debt.

Located at 2505 1st Avenue, The Crocodile has hosted several widely known acts such as Nirvana, The White Stripes, and The Beastie Boys, according to The Crocodile.

“It’s iconic, it was a cornerstone of the Seattle music scene in the early 90s when grunge was happening,” Spike said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “Being in Seattle for the evolution and peak of grunge, clubs like The Crocodile were venues where bands could play and develop their skill sets.”

Following the closure of Madame Lou’s and Here-After, two long-standing music venues that struggled with unprofitability, General Manager Shaina Foley noted that the decision to sell The Crocodile came down to planning for the long term.

“We needed to figure out the best next step to get us through for the long term — hopefully another 35 years,” Foley told The Seattle Times. “We decided that (this sale process) was going to be the best path for us to do that.”

The Crocodile ammasses $1M+ in debt ahead of sale

A court-appointed attorney is handling the process through a receivership, oftentimes used in lieu of filing for bankruptcy. The Crocodile elected for the receivership as the venue has accumulated $1.6 million in debt to be paid toward TicketWeb, a ticketing platform, according to court documents obtained by The Seattle Times.

The previous closures were largely attributed to post-pandemic challenges of attendance and alcohol sales, paired with increased operating costs.

As for the immediate future of The Crocodile, Foley claimed that the changes are minimal, and the company looks forward to operating for a long time.

“Nothing’s really changed in terms of the day-to-day, how it looks in the building and what we’re doing,” Foley said. “No matter what happens, we plan on continuing for a long time. It’s just going to be a change of the stakeholders, essentially.”

Dominique Scalia was appointed as the receiver to manage The Crocodile’s remaining assets. Scalia noted she will “serve the best interest” of the creditors and The Crocodile’s owners, which include Sean Kinney, the drummer for Alice in Chains, Susan Silver, the band manager of both Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, and Eric Howk, a band member of Portugal. The Man, among several other owners.

Scalia revealed that the overall process may be brief, as she is already in talks with a few interested parties and is planning to receive at least a few offers.

One of the potential buyers is Marcus Charles, who is one of The Crocodile’s largest shareholders. Charles and a group of previous Crocodile owners are in the “final stages” of submitting a formal offer to purchase the venue, according to The Seattle Times.

The Crocodile reinvented itself after moving a few blocks from its original spot in 2020. The new space allowed the music venue to have a 750-capacity showroom, a 300-capacity venue, a 100-seat comedy club and movie theater, a daytime café, and an alley restaurant-bar. The Crocodile continues to operate Oodalalee, though its future is uncertain after its initial opening last summer.

Contributing: Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest

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