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Report: Emagine's Big Sean theater may be built at Detroit train station

Posted at 3:23 PM, Jun 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-19 16:01:21-04

Emagine Entertainment may be close to becoming Ford's first tenant at the restored Michigan Central Depot.

Crain's Detroit is reporting that the movie theater chain is looking to put a location in the train station.

The magazine says the depot is one of several locations under consideration.

According to Crain's sources, the theater would be in partnership with Big Sean. The joint venture was announced in February.

Emagine Chairman Paul Glantz issued the following statement on the report:

Our partner, Sean Anderson, has a great relationship with Ford Motor Company, and we are enamored with the vision that Bill Ford articulated for the Corktown area this morning.  Our interest is in becoming an integral part of a burgeoning and vibrant neighborhood.  With those things in mind, we see substantial opportunity for alignment in locating near the Michigan Central Station.  However, we have nothing to announce at this time, nor have we eliminated several other viable sites from our selection process.

At that time, the target date for the opening was 2020. However, Crain's says it is not known if the logistics of placing a multiplex in the train station will affect that timetable.

The last major movie theater in Detroit, located in the Renaissance Center, closed in 2015.

Emagine has multiple locations in Michigan; this would be the first Emagine theater in or near downtown Detroit.

Once the location is announced, the Emagine Theater would be the second such complex in Detroit. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema announced a Midtown location on June 7. That theater is also planned to open in 2020.