Some people
are already calling it Burbank on the Hudson as one of Hollywood's biggest studios is now creating movie
magic in Yonkers.
Lionsgate Studios officially
opened its doors about a week
ago, and on Thursday, it gave News 12
an exclusive look inside the massive entertainment facility located along the
Yonkers waterfront.
The iconic Hollywood studio
behind films such as "Angel has Fallen" and "Rambo - Last Blood"
is now on the site of the former Otis Elevator property.
Great Point Studios owns, is
building and is managing this huge production campus.
Phase one consists of three
large soundstages, two that are
20,000-square feet and one that is 10,000-square feet. There is also more than 200,000-square feet
of support and office space and a new parking deck.
When completed, Lionsgate
Studios in Yonkers will be one of the largest modern built production campuses in the northeast, with over one million square feet of production space and 11 giant
stages.
The total cost of the
project is in excess of $500 million.
Robert Halmi, the founder and CEO of Great Point Studios, spoke to News
12 about why he chose Yonkers for this studio and why now. "There's been
an absolute explosion in content production, and there is an acute shortage of
infrastructure to support that growth in production. Yonkers is perfect, this
is just a great location, for a film and television center. For one thing we
could find land here…we got over 30 acres we're building on."
Great Point officials say
the project will create hundreds of full and part time jobs, and
many of them will be locally hired with Yonkers residents.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano
says there will be a tremendous impact to the city from Lionsgate coming to the
City of Hills. "Lionsgate coming to Yonkers is a game-changer for our
city. They plan to come back to the idea with some greater expansions very,
very soon, which could mean as much as 2,000 new jobs."
The studio will not be open to the public for tours until sometime next year when work on the facility is expected to be completed.