The proposal to build a new movie theater in downtown Royal Oak took a big step forward earlier this week when the City Commission passed a resolution committing the city to approving the project's liquor license application.
That means plans to build a 10-screen theater in the parking lot behind the Main Art Theater can go forward. The developer behind the Main North building and Paul Glantz, founder and chairman of Emagine Entertainment, want to build a combination first-run movie theater complex, bowling alley, and bar. The theater would be similar to the Emagine theaters in Novi, Canton, Birch Run, and Woodhaven.
The theater would show first-run movies and offer 16 bowling lanes. In contrast, the Main Art shows independent and foreign film house-style movies.
""We don't think we'll be competing with the Main Art in any way, shape, or form," Glantz says. "In fact we think we'll help because it brings more movie goers to the area."
The $14 million entertainment complex is proposed for the large empty lot at Troy Street and 11 Mile Road. It will feature 1,700 seats, with theaters holding from 86 to 395 viewers. There will be some bowling lanes set aside for the general public, and a private party room with four bowling lanes on the mezzanine level.
The bowling alleys will be more drop-in bowlers, as opposed to leagues. The complex will give a free pair of socks to bowlers who rent shoes and wipes to clean bowling balls.
"It will be all about people who come out and to socialize and have fun," Glantz says.
Preliminary designs call for a one-story building, similar to modern-day cinemas and in contrast to the multi-story theaters in downtown Birmingham. As of yet, nothing is planned to be built above the screens.
Source: Paul Glantz, founder and chairman of Emagine Entertainment
Writer: Jon Zemke
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