"If you look at all the housing units that are being developed downtown and in Midtown, I think you're going to see an enormous amount of housing come online in next couple years," Glantz said.

And folks like to go to the movies near their neighborhood, he said.

The population base is a little light right now, but Glantz said Emagine believes it will be there in the not too distant future.

"As the population that would embrace Emagine grows, it would represent an underserved market opportunity for us," he said.

The new theater would be the first megaplex downtown but second in the city, joining the Bel Air Luxury Cinema on Eight Mile Road between Van Dyke and Hoover Road.

Troy-based Emagine is working on two other new theaters in the region.

The Livingston County Board of Commissioners on Monday turned down Emagine's request for incentives for a new theater in Hartland Township near U.S. 23 and M-59, Glantz said, noting he's still pursuing that location.

Emagine is also looking to put another location in Oakland County in an undisclosed, underserved neighborhood, he said. It would add to existing sites in Royal Oak, Rochester Hills, Birmingham and Novi.

Over the past 20 years, Emagine has opened 18 theaters. Nine are in Michigan and the others are in Illinois and Minnesota.