The city wants to bring the lights, camera and action to Sunset Park.
The city’s Economic Development Corporation and Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) requested Wednesday that developers propose ways to create a 196,000 square-foot film space at the Bush Terminal Campus.
The city’s vision, which it dubbed the Made in New York Campus, would include soundstages for film, music and other multimedia projects, such as virtual and augmented reality.
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen said the space would provide needed infrastructure for the growing film industry. She anticipated it being a “home base” for the 1,500 New Yorkers working in that field.
“New York City’s film and TV sector draws talent from around the world — and creates thousands of good-paying jobs here across the boroughs,” Glen said in a statement.
The city anticipates the Made in New York Campus rising where unused warehouses currently sit, near the Brooklyn waterfront between 45th and 48th streets, according to the city’s request for proposals. The chosen applicant would be responsible for demolishing those older buildings, constructing the new campus, mapping paths for truck deliveries and providing parking spaces.
Proposals are due November 2, and the EDC anticipates the facility making its debut in 2020. The corporation said developers and film companies that commit to hiring Brooklynites, women and minorities will be given preference for building and using the Made in New York Campus.
“Through this effort, we will create quality jobs, help advance gender equity, diversity and inclusion in the media production industry, and strengthen the local Sunset Park community,” EDC President James Patchett said in a statement.
Patchett’s team said the film industry has been increasingly staging projects in the boroughs. A total of 56 episodic series shot in the city during the 2016-2017 television year, which was four more than were filmed there during the prior year, MOME said. Since January, the city said it has issued 6,358 film permits, compared to 6,112 during the same period in 2017.
Several film studios have been expanding their operations into the outer boroughs. Last year, York Studios broke ground on a 350,000 square-foot facility in Soundview.
The state also struck a deal with Broadway Stages last year to convert the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility in Staten Island into five new soundstages, collectively offering 100,000 square feet.
“Projects like these build on our City’s strengths and lead to the creation of good jobs for New Yorkers,” the Council’s Economic Development Chair, Paul Vallone, said in a statement.
