COVINGTON — Ten years of work on the old Madison Theater may finally be finished on New Year's Eve.

        That's when the 89-year-old movie house, which showed its last film in 1975, is scheduled to reopen as a 1,100-seat concert venue that will also have room for dances, banquets and other meetings.

        “We'll have live entertainment,” said John Spafford, spokesman for Classic Properties Inc., the Covington firm that is working on the project. “This is multimillion dollar, over $2.5 million. We've got $165,000 in the sound system alone.”

        According to Mr. Spafford, the Madison first opened in 1912. He said it was last renovated in 1946.

        City Commissioner Jerry Bamberger can't wait to see the inside of the Madison.

        “I'm pleasantly surprised,” he said. “It's been longer than 10 years.”

        In 1989, Classic Properties president Esther Johnson paid Covington a dollar for the historic building at 730-732 Madison Ave.

        Last year, Provident Bank loaned $1 million, the city approved a $100,000 low-interest loan, and Mrs. Johnson and her husband, Charles, invested as much as $400,000 of their own money.

        Among other projects, the Johnsons turned the old Parisian store on West Pike Street into law offices and transformed the old Morwessel Pharmacy building on West Sixth Street into an interior designer's studio and apartments.

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