The company is taking over Mann's 10-year lease on the 22,000-sf facility on East Hampden Avenue, just east of Interstate 25. Tamarac Square is a large, unanchored retail center in an area that is in southeast Denver, but straddles the southeast suburbs and has a more suburban, than urban, feel.

The Mann theater closed last fall with little fanfare. The theater was built around 1976, Jimmy Sheehan, a former Mann executive and now president of Madstone, tells GlobeSt.com.

Sheehan says his company will spend about $400,000 refurbishing the theater and the work will take 60 to 90 days.

At least one projector will be able to handle digital films -- those that are either beamed by satellite or sent over fiber optic cables, eliminating the need for the expensive and traditional film reels. But the industry doesn't have standards yet and telecommunication companies are suffering financially, so the idea has yet to come to fruition, Sheehan tells GlobeSt.com.

The theater also will include a café where he hopes to serve beer and wine, as well as light, gourmet sandwiches.

Sheehan say she hopes to make his chain as large as Landmark in the next year or so. Landmark is by far the largest national chain of art films and owns three theaters in Denver with a total of eight screens.