With film and TV production in New York City filling local sound stages to capacity, the city will construct a new, 100,000-square-foot production facility as part of a $136 million development project in Brooklyn that will also create new spaces for garment manufacturers and other industries related to film, TV, and fashion.
The city investment of $136 million will go toward capital improvements to what will be a new Made in NY campus at Bush Terminal, a little-used area on the waterfront in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Capital projects on the budget including the renovation of two existing buildings to create 200,000 square feet of garment manufacturing space and the construction of the new film and TV production facility. All three buildings will be owned by the city and leased to tenants at reasonable rates in an effort to grow industries and jobs in New York.
Announced by a group of city leaders that included Mayor Bill de Blasio and Julie Menin, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, work on the campus — projected to open in 2020 — will begin as New York City has reached highs in film and TV production. The 336 features filmed in the city last year marked a 40 percent increase compared to the previous year, and a 13 percent growth in TV production brings the tally to 52 series shooting in New York. According to Menin, the media and entertainment sector currently encompasses 385,000 area jobs, more than the financial and insurance industries combined.
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City administrators said real estate represents one of the biggest constraints on the further expansion of production in the city. “We’re just plain out of space, in terms of filming,” de Blasio said. The new campus will aim to alleviate that shortage with sound stages as well as support space for video and photo shoots, as well as new-media facilities for augmented reality and virtual reality.
Meanwhile, the new spaces for garment manufacturing will aim to keep that component of the fashion industry in the city. The new Made in NY campus was announced as part of the overall push, announced by the mayor last night, to add 100,000 jobs to the city in the next decade with 40,000 coming in the next four years.
