My idea to preserve the United Artist Theatre

[masterblaster]

The President of Emagine Theaters and Rapper Big Sean have expressed interest in teaming up to bring an Emagine Theater in and around downtown Detroit as recently as March of 2019.

https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/02/27/big-sean-emagine-detroit-downtown-movie-theater/379124002/

https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/2018/09/05/big-sean-narrows-detroit-movie-theater-search-two-sites/1206722002/

https://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2019/03/20/emagine-says-detroit-will-still-get-a-movie-theater-after-site-gets-sold-to-marijuana-business

Their plan “calls for a "luxury venue" housing 10 to 12 screens and up to 1,300 in total seating. The biggest auditorium in the complex would be a 300-seat room that doubles as a live music venue.”

MY IDEA:
-Combine the United Artists Theater Building and the adjacent Tuller Hotel site into one superblock for one building

-Build the 9 regular-sized movie auditoriums on the Tuller portion of the site

-The restored theater can be the “live music venue” that Big Sean wants to include which would also show hot, popular new movie premiers, as well as classical movies. You could book other events, maybe it could be the future performance home of a DETROIT BALLET COMPANY.

-Therefore, you are now getting funds from Emagine and whatever Big Sean is planning to contribute, which makes restoration more economically feasible.

From the September 2018 article:
“"We want to do something revolutionary with it," Big Sean said at the time. "We don't want to just make it a movie theater, traditionally. We also want it to be a hub for entertainment for the whole community. We want people to have an incentive to go the extra miles, to travel into Detroit."

BIG SEAN, THE UA THEATER IS THAT PLACE

[southen]

Interesting but it would depend on how it is built out. You don't want a completely insular building right on GCP and I would argue that that site deserves something taller than a 4 story movie theater unless the goal is to make the stick built crap on Statler look more grandiose.

[JK313]

Would be nice to see a 15-20 story mixed use development on the site that incorporated the theater. Ground floor retail, a couple levels of parking, the movie theater, and then hotel/residential space on top. Although the odds of that happening are about as good as seeing the Ilitches build on their lots between Comerica and Woodward.

[Detroitdave]

I believe the Ilitches also said they wanted to add a hotel to the district Detroit. Why not do what they've done in LA with their UA theater and convert the tower portions into hotel rooms and repair the theater for shows like they are doing in the FOX , WIN, WIN ?

https://www.acehotel.com/losangeles/...tre-ace-hotel/

[Vitalis]

Is there enough foot traffic to support a multiplex on Bagley or anywhere downtown for that matter? And shouldn't another hotel or hotel/condo project go into the Tuller footprint? With a dramatic restoration of the UA - architecture for architecture's sake - whoever takes this project on had better decide up front if his [[her) theater is going to be a money generating facility, 365, or merely "available for functions" throughout the year. Doesn't Detroit already have enough performance spaces for what the city is? Mothball the restored UA for another day [[if the owner can afford to sit on it); make it a specialty movie house [[but risk changes in the look of the stage area to accommodate a giant screen); but whatever happens can this grand old auditorium make a go of it in an era where home entertainment rules.

[masterblaster]

Is there enough foot traffic to support a multiplex on Bagley or anywhere downtown for that matter?

No multiplexes have foot traffic, they are all in suburban sprawl locations, so why must downtown be required to have foot traffic? The city has 600,000 people and one multi-plex, residents/visitors/tourists should be able to support a multi-screen cinema complex. I think.

For anecdote's sake, a lack of a movie theater is a big complaint of a co-worker who lives downtown.

[masterblaster]

Southen, JK313, and Detroitdave make great points about what should be constructed

I was just trying to propose something that made the restoration of the UA theater more financially palatable. With my proposal, the costs would be divided between Ilitch/Moten, Emagine, and possibly Big Sean.

I wonder if the ACE Hotel would be willing to come to the Detroit market and handle the restoration of the theater?

Vitalis's assertion to mothball the theater portion was echoed by the Preservation Wayne president and certain Historic Commission members when the theater demolition subject was addressed in the Historic Commission Meeting last week.

[p1acebo]

No multiplexes have foot traffic, they are all in suburban sprawl locations, so why must downtown be required to have foot traffic? The city has 600,000 people and one multi-plex, residents/visitors/tourists should be able to support a multi-screen cinema complex. I think.

For anecdote's sake, a lack of a movie theater is a big complaint of a co-worker who lives downtown.

Definitely was annoying when I lived downtown. Only option was in the Ren Cen, x4 theaters, and limited times.

[Gistok]

Great ideas all...

One thing common to all the great movie houses downtown... land in the downtown area was so expensive in the 1920s [[when most of the great movie palaces were built) that they were always incorporated within an office building, and never as standalone theatres. That way if the theatre portions of the building had a downturn, the office portion of the building would pay the mortgage.

So if someone did come with an idea for a movie multiplex on the Tuller portion of the UA/Tuller block, 1st/2nd floor multiplex theatres could have office, or hotel or residential above that [[as in the UA, Michigan, State and Fox theatre buildings). The United Artists Theatre could be mothballed, until conditions favorable to adding a 1500-2000 seat venue to the mix of downtown entertainments were needed.

The view down Bagley Ave in the 1920s and 1930s was amazing... with the massive Statler Hotel to the left, just out of view.

[Vitalis]

All - this is a pretty entertaining view as well - autumn, 1950.

[masterblaster]

In this day-and-age of working from home, if downtown's resurgence is to be sustained, it is my opinion that we need to bring as many unique, cultural destinations and entertainment options to keep people wanting to visit and live down here. A restored United Artist theater as an art movie house or performance venue would have been a destination.

We preservationists are really going to have to put in some hard work to get an audience with people who have money and to convince them of a viable use for these old buildings, like the AMC Building Duggan is working on getting torn down.