Dearborn Watches as Emagine Opens in Royal Oak
What do the cities of Rochester Hills, Novi, Canton, Woodhaven, Birch Run and now Royal Oak have in common? An Emagine megaplex movie theater in each of their downtowns.
Dearborn was supposed to get one as part of a major development project on Michigan Avenue but years after it first was pitched to City Hall still nothing has materialized.
Instead, Dearborn is left watching on the sidelines as Royal Oak becomes the sixth city to open its doors to an Emagine megaplex, which will celebrate its grand opening on Monday, May 16.
We wrote about plans for the Emagine many times HERE on these pages, as did the Dearborn Press & Guide.
Economic & Community Development Director Barry Murray said in 2010 that an Emagine Theatre was being discussed as having potential to be located on the former Vic Tanny/Bally’s site, adjacent to the Oakwood Muirhead building.
Then the proposed plan for Dearborn called for a bowling alley (the new facility in Royal Oak has 16 lanes) on the lower level and a multiplex movie theater above (Royal Oak has 10 screens). The private investment for this facility was then estimated to be $12 million to $15 million, roughly the same investment in Royal Oak.
Hakim Fakhoury, a developer in Dearborn, earlier said the theater was to be part of a larger building plan he proposed along Michigan Avenue. The theater was one reason, he said, the Fatburger chain was supposedly considering opening a location in the building at Michigan and Military.
A vinyl sign that hung outside the building saying Fatburger was “coming soon” has long since been removed.
A Emagine megaplex would be a terrific addition to downtown West Dearborn. We’re hopeful it still could happen . . .
May 15th, 2011 at 11:27 pm
There’s a surprise,Dearborn watching while surrounding cities expand their downtown area’s with common sense idea’s. I understand the delay though,first dearborn has to discuss it for about a year,then the result of the discussion is to form a committee,then the committee has to research it for a year and then their answer is just whatever the mayor tells them. Once that is settled then the mayor has to figure out which construction company will give him the biggest kickback,by the time the whole process is complete the city ticked off at least 10 people along the way and just when the project is ready to start the city will be dragged into court.
Welcome to dearborn!
May 16th, 2011 at 6:09 am
TotalRecall -Welcome to dearborn is right!!! You gotta love all the committees that are formed and for what reason they are formed I’ll never figure out.
May 16th, 2011 at 7:54 am
Hakim Fakhoury is the problem.
May 16th, 2011 at 10:05 am
hope isnt a strategy…….
May 16th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Good moring Mr. Deep. I have reached out to you many times asking for you to please try to contact me before you place articles such as this. For Dearborn it is imporatnt for us all to bring projects such as Emagine theater into our downtown. Members on DVP and the Mayor were invited to the Royal Oak opening. Paul glanz stated to us he will come to dearborn if he is welcome. This can not happen without everyones cooperation. Please contact your city council and show your support. THANK YOU
May 16th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Maybe our new city slogan could be “Bureaucratic Constipation Prevents Business Creation”..Yawn…
May 16th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
As I recall, Mr. Fakhoury brought this idea as part of the “preferred developer status” which he sat on for years and years. Now, he is bringing a lawsuit against the City for HIS doing nothing at all.
I believe that he no longer has this status. If I am wrong, please let me know.
Since he is no longer in charge of the project, I truly believe that that the City needs to move ahead without the burden of a “Preferred Developer” which other cities seem to manage quite well without.
Let’s move ahead and try to catch up to all of these other cities. I have visited the Woodhaven location with our grandchildren. It does not sit in a downtown area because of the parking that it needs. We have plenty of places that it
could be built. The empty Kroger store in the Michigan/Schaefer area is just one suggestion.
It’s time for the Chamber of Commerce to do it’s job and work to bring Commerce into the City.
Just some thoughts.
May 16th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
When will the people of Dearborn stop believing every Hakim says (he is a pathological liar). He likes to place the blame on everybody but himself. The local politicians seem to hang on to all thne b.s. he keeps talking about, and all that keeps coming out of his mouth is more b.s., tell him to pay his taxes and hit the road.
May 16th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
I am sorry,but if it comes down to believing Mr. Fakhoury or any representative of this regime,i will go with Mr. Fakhoury. The Mayor and his band of misfit lawyers are nothing more than character assassins and professional smear merchants.
They have their steady supply of tax payers money to fund their slander campaigns as they target their enemies like a two bit third world dictator.
This regime needs to go!
May 16th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
I just can’t help but wonder what kind of crowd a movie theater a mile down the road from the former Dearborn Theater would draw, and what that kind of crowd would mean for the rest of Downtown West Dearborn. Does anybody else wonder that or is it just me?
May 16th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
The MJR Westland Grand movie theater is well under construction and heading for a November 2011 opening. The Westland Chamber of Commerce estimates 800,000 patrons will use the theater each year and will frequent local restaurants and businesses. Imagine an Emagine Theater and entertainment complex like Royal Oak’s in West Dearborn. I think the whole Michigan Ave. strip would explode with activity. The bars and restaurants already there would be so much more successful and, more importantly, new businesses would move in. Could one complex do all this? Ask Royal Oak, Woodhaven and the other cities Emagine has moved into. It’s my understanding that Paul Glanz is waiting with money in hand for Dearborn to get its act together. If this means settling the Burton/Katzman lawsuit to free up the property between the two parking decks or resolving Mr. Fakhoury’s issues for the Bally/Vic Tanny site, then get on with it before Mr. Ganz takes one viable hope for West Dearborn to you-know-where in Allen Park.
May 16th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Hey look, there’s the racism! Thanks, I wonder. It’s always nice when we talk about bringing business into Dearborn and someone has to worry about the types of people it will bring in.
May 16th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Well, Hakim talk about everyones cooperation, how about your cooperation your the one with all the buildings tied up on Michigan Ave and not paying taxes and your tenants complaining because you won’t do anything to the buildings that need to be done to bring them up to code. And to you “I wonder says” what kind of crowd are you alluding to and money being spent in Dearborn all looks the same no matter who is spending it, so there! We could really use that theater here, I rather spend my money here then go to Woodhaven or Southgate to a movie. I would also like to see a Kohl’s here too instead of going to Taylor to shop. Come on City wake up have some common sense as to what is happening here. $275,500 to pay an out sourced company to sweep our streets? Please!
May 17th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Total Recall – You obviously don’t work with nor ever have worked with Mr. Fakkhoury. Try being a tenant of his and then see what you have to say.
Ever wonder what happened to all of his old tenants? Try talking to some of them and see what they have to say about him. Ask them about paying the same utilitiy bills as the other tenants in the same building were also paying. Ask them about having to have work done on the buildings and the lack of speed in which they were done. Find out why they are no longer his tenants.
The city should never have given him any extensions. Everyone should stay as far away from him as possible.
May 17th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I would guess this guy had some money and bought “high” – got upside down, when real estate crashed, and is up a creek now, w/out a paddle. He gambled, he lost. The City can throw him a life-rope, again & again, if they want to – – but if you read Cloe’s comments, I wouldn’t. No, Fatburger isn’t coming soon & an Emagine Megaplex isn’t either. Very simply put, the dream is old, and over. Mayor McCheese went along with this guy’s plans for years. We have lost most everything, unfortunately. Let’s move forward and fix this mess before it’s too late. We could rent the two giant, nearly empty, parking structures for paintball games, just like downtown (JK)? On a positive note, the Farm Market is back on Friday’s and that is nice!!! Still love Dearborn.
May 17th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
“””Hey look, there’s the racism! Thanks, I wonder. It’s always nice when we talk about bringing business into Dearborn and someone has to worry about the types of people it will bring in.””””
Hey, sorry if you’re upset that I don’t have a problem talking about the 16-24 year-old, or so, demographic that will be one segment of the crowd that a movie theater will draw based on what I’ve seen over the past 30 years or so at the Dearborn Theater and Fairlane. The mall management must be racists too for having the curfew in place, huh? Sorry, realists don’t have to be racists. If you infer “black” when I invoke the image of the problems that the Dearborn Theater and Movies at Fairlane had, that’s YOUR hangup, not mine. Wanna hire some more cops to stand around with their hands in their pockets waiting for a fight to break out like they do at Fairlane? Been to a show their lately? I have.
Yes, I do worry about the kind of crowd a business draws based on past personal experience. I think it’s about time people can talk about reality without being labeled racist by people like you on the defensive any time we talk about crime or disorder within 20 miles of Detroit, don’t you? “OH! A presumably white person talking about crime and disorder in a discussion about a huge theater complex, downtown, a mile away from two other movie theaters which have been beset in the past with crime and disorder! Must be a racist!” No, must have his eyes open.
May 17th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
HF has no money that he’s willing to put into these buildings, whether taxes or maintenance, let alone improvements. Hard to believe that the City folded and gave him an extension without getting a dismissal with prejudice of his lawsuit. Amazing what a lawyer can do to improve one’s prospects.
May 18th, 2011 at 7:46 am
to I wonder…………
Bravo!!
I second your senitments exactly. this is a personal problem and a card that is still being played. same thing, different day. I too worry about crime in my city. I worry about my neighborhoods and the value of my home.
and Fly on the Wall–
I too would like to see some shopping. Enough bars, and restaurants already? How about shops, or businesses that may be more than a “hang out”. I speak from my experiences also and what has become of my city and what this mayor, his council, along with mr. fakhoury have damaged.
How about a store with a little class. How about buildings that mirror the history of our city and the one decent gem we have left….greenfield village.
And a theatre on that site in west dearborn? That is a lovely residential area adjacent with old historic homes. stop the madness!.. We have the Fairlane Theatre just down the road.
May 18th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Other cities have entertainment, shopping, pools and libraries but we have leaf pick up and public service days. That ought to bring crowds to hang out in Dearborn. They can watch the leaves blow around and get a parking ticket.
May 18th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Dearborn is sinking fast because of the irish boss hogg,but so many of the dearborn voters are uniformed and because of that they voted for a bunch of his cronies for the council. The few that try to stop his destruction of the city are always out voted and rendered powerless. Dearborn is running out of time,the irish boss hogg must go.
May 20th, 2011 at 11:54 am
Boss Hogg we have had it with your short-sightedness. Bring some developers here who have a real vision, unlike what we currently have. Try and get a Kohls, and try to work with the movie theatre industry, because I personally am offended that Westland is doing it, and we don’t obviously have anyone with any real vision. Save the pools for the kids, and bring something for the adults. If you don’t do something soon, you will have a real legacy that you have left the City, and that is a big sewer-hole.