K-Nation Entertainment plans to hold indoor concerts in Badger Circle building

The sound of music may soon take on a whole new meaning in the Grafton Business Park.

K-Nation Entertainment, a Grafton-based company that develops and promotes new musical talent, plans to hold live indoor performances in a theater at 995 Badger Circ.

The theater will be part of company operations that also include a booking agency, recording studio and sound and lighting rental firm.

K-Nation was established in 2010 by Jim Kacmarcik, president of Kapco Inc., a metal-stamping manufacturer at 1000 Badger Circ.

In a permit application to the village, Sean Becker, K-Nation’s director of productions, said his company plans to hold daytime and evening concerts for as many as 100 people. The shows would include private and public performances.

Plans call for at least one concert per month to be held in a 3,500-square-foot, sound-proofed theater. The firm also intends to build a recording studio that would be leased by musicians three to five days per week for use under the direction of a staff engineer/producer.

K-Nation’s music stable includes artists such as Chasin’ Mason, Erica Hoyt and Carley Wilemon.

Becker said K-Nation’s booking agency was established “to secure performance opportunities for the best local musical artists at select area and regional clubs, festivals and other venues that allow live music.”

The building that will house the K-Nation theater and studio also contains office space for the Lakeshore Chinooks baseball team, whose principal owners include Kacmarcik.

In a recommending approval of the permit request to the Plan Commission, Village Administrator Darrell Hofland said the theater requires amending a village ordinance to allow assembly places of less than 100 persons as a conditional use in an industrial district.

Hofland recommended the commission clarify the hours of operation for K-Nation theater performances and that the company provide a plan for on-site and shared parking. He also recommended the permit be subject to a one-year review before it can be extended.

The commission began reviewing K-Nation’s plans in March. A public hearing on the proposal for the booking agency and recording studio will held before the commission June 25, with possible action on the permit requests at the same meeting.

The theater also requires Village Board approval of an amendment to permitted uses in an industrial district.