Emagine restaurant to become screening room

An amendment to the special land use permit to allow Emagine Palladium to put in a private, rentable theater where they had previously had Four Story Burger was approved by Birmingham city commissioners on Monday, June 4.

Planning director Jana Ecker explained to commissioners that Emagine Palladium, 209 Hamilton Row/250 N. Old Woodward, in the Palladium Building, was proposing to put in a private theater that could be rented out, which would then be their sixth theater in that location. The small theater would have between 24 and 35 seats, depending upon the size of the seats.

Ecker said Four Story Burger, a restaurant on the fourth floor of the Palladium Building owned by Paul Glantz and Jonathon Goldstein, owners of Emagine Palladium, had closed “a while ago.”

“The pizza ovens, lounges, the food, and all of the other things would stay the same,” Ecker said, as the theater would offer food and beverages to patrons. “Their thought is they would rent it out for birthdays and functions. You would enter, have food in the front area and see a movie.”

Emagine Palladium has one of the city's Class C liquor licenses.

Mayor pro tem Patty Bordman asked if other times the theater would be a regular movie theater.

“We would be honored to host people on a regular basis. It would be predicated on demand,” Glantz said.

Glantz said the seats will be moveable.