Going to the movies on the East Side may soon include bowling.

Marcus Theatres announced plans Tuesday for a nearly 100,000-square-foot entertainment complex on a 26-acre site at Highway 151 and Nelson Road. The project will include 16 movie screens and a sports bar, and might include a 12-lane bowling alley.

The plan, which will allow for expansion and a mixed use of retail and office space, is scheduled for review tonight by the Madison Urban Design Commission.

"It's going to be all-encompassing," said Ald. Joe Clausius, who represents the area where the facility is planned. "It's an exciting thing for the East Side of Madison. I'm very much in support of it."

Marcus, the seventh largest theater company in the country with 678 screens in 56 locations, didn't disclose a cost of the project but said construction could begin this year.

The nearby 16-screen Eastgate Cinema, 5202 High Crossing Road, also owned by Marcus, has been sold to a Madison developer and will be torn down once the new project is completed, the company said.

"Expansion at the current site was possible, but after carefully evaluating all of our options, relocating and building a new theater that includes other exciting entertainment and dining options made the most sense," said Bruce Olson, president of Marcus Theatres. "This new complex will truly be an entertainment destination."

The facility will include a 72-foot-wide Ultra screen and another auditorium that will feature digital 3D technology. All of the 16 theater auditoriums, with a total of 2,900 seats, will have stadium seating and digital sound. The largest auditorium would seat 478 with others ranging from 117 to 252 seats.

The bowling alley hasn't been finalized as part of the plan but is being considered. It would be the first bowling operation for Marcus, said spokesman Carlo Petrick.

"There's a resurgence in the sport and it's been successful for other companies that have done it," Petrick said.

Olson said Marcus also plans to eventually develop another theater complex on the city's Southeast Side at the Tradewinds Center, east of Stoughton Road and south of the Beltline. Plans for that project were announced in 2006 but have yet to materialize. Original plans called for a 12-screen facility with stadium-style seating and room for 1,464 people.

In Dane County, Marcus has 36 screens at three locations, including 16 at Point Ultra Screen, 7825 Big Sky Drive, and the four-screen, Westgate Art Cinemas in the Westgate Mall at the corner of Odana Road and Whitney Way.