Second Yonkers movie campus moves ahead with school lease approval
The plan to create a second movie and television production studio campus in Yonkers has started to become reality with the signing of a lease for a significant element of what”™s intended to be included on the new campus. The production center would be built at the former Rising Ground property on Hawthorne Street.
In addition to a dozen new Hollywood-style sound stages, Great Point Studios, owner and operator of the Lionsgate Studio in downtown Yonkers, agreed to include a new Yonkers public school at the proposed facility. The school would teach film and TV production in addition to the regular public school curriculum. Students would be given opportunities to use professional equipment while learning from industry experts.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and the city”™s Board of Education have announced that the board approved signing a lease for the school with iPark Riverdale LLC. The lease is for the Frank T. Biondi and Ames School Buildings on the former Rising Ground campus. Rising Ground previously had been known as Leake & Watts, which in 1890 moved to the approximately 32-acre campus at 463 Hawthorne Ave. Rising Ground now operates from headquarters in Brooklyn.
The new media and production school will be for 500 students in grades six through 12. The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University will be involved in developing the curriculum. Great Point Studios will manage the renovations to build the new school. It is expected that Syracuse University students will be working and learning at the studio complex and Yonkers public school students would be offered opportunities to apply to continue their media educations at the university. The new public school is expected to open in August 2024.
The lease is for an initial period of 20 years with provisions for two 15-year extensions. The Yonkers public schools would pay iPark a rental of $2.4 million a year. The Board of Education expects that New York state will cover up to 70% of the costs of the school construction and annual lease payments.
“I have long shared a vision with the city of Yonkers for the future of our entertainment industry,” Great Point”™s founder and CEO Robert Halmi said. “With the guidance of the Newhouse School, this new school will provide vital training for future media creators and performers and will allow our next generation to continue to grow on the strong foundation that we have created.”
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said,“This school, along with the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School in construction now, means Yonkers soon will be home to two more vibrant and diverse learning institutions that will see our young people flourish and prepare them for the next phases of their educational journey.”
Yonkers Superintendent of schools Edwin M. Quezada sees the partnership with Great Point Studios and Syracuse University as representing one of the most innovative approaches for educating students.
“Yonkers students will benefit from a rigorous and relevant academic curriculum enriched with hands-on learning experiences supported by state-of-the-art technology,“ Quezada said. “These students will have the opportunity in high school to take sufficient college-link courses to lead to a college associates degree. Upon graduating from this new media and production school, these students will be ready to enter the news and entertainment industry or continue their post-secondary college education.”