DETROIT – Detroit’s Midtown was about to get a new attraction -- but the plan is now dead in the water.
The hugely popular Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a dine-in, drink-in move theater, announced plans in 2018 to open up shop in Midtown’s Cass Corridor, on Stimson Street near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Woodward Avenue.
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The Detroit Rising Development group was behind the development in Midtown.
Well, nearly two years later, the group says the development has been scrapped due to a lack of parking, according to Crain’s Detroit Business. The agreement was terminated in late 2019.
“Alamo needed a surety that the parking was going to be available for 15 years; we could not secure exactly what was going to fit their need to make the investment,” Jonathan Hartzell, founding partner of developer Detroit Rising Development, told Crain’s.
Alamo had a location in Kalamazoo, but it closed in 2017. The Detroit location would have been its only Michigan location.
The theater chain currently has 24 locations operating in the United States, including in Austin, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Kansas City, New York and Phoenix.
Alamo theaters usually show a mix of classic films and new releases.
Alamo Drafthouse was founded in Austin, Texas by Tim and Karrie League. Their first theater at 409 Colorado Street was a hand built one screen operation that initially featured second run titles at discount rates.