Third movie studio campus proposed for Yonkers; more likely

A preliminary review is underway by city officials of a proposal to build a third movie and TV production studio campus in Yonkers and proposals to build additional studios in the city are expected, Mayor Mike Spano told the Business Journals during an interview.

Lionsgate Studios is already operating at National Resources”™ iPark Hudson near the Metro-North train station in downtown Yonkers. It was built and is managed by Great Point Studios, headed by film and TV industry veteran Robert Halmi. A second Great Point Studios complex is in the works for the former Rising Ground property on Hawthorne Street, not far from Lionsgate. The 32-acre campus would include a public school featuring media production courses for students in grades 6 through 12.

Rendering of proposed movie studio at 1050 North Broadway in Yonkers.

The city has begun a preliminary review of plans for the third movie and TV production campus, this one in the northwest section of the city near the border with Hastings-on-Hudson and adjacent to Robert Martin Company”™s South Westchester Executive Park. The street address for the project is 1050 N. Broadway and the developer is iPark Broadway I LLC. The project has been dubbed North Broadway Studios.

A document on file with the Westchester County Clerk”™s Office shows that RMC Development Company LLC, which has an address in care of Robert Martin Company in Elmsford, sold the parcel of land at 1050 N. Broadway to iPark Broadway LLC for $10.5 million.

The North Broadway Studios plan calls for a three-story, 183,000-square-foot structure containing three soundstages, office space, editing rooms, make-up and dressing rooms, scenery construction space and additional support facilities. Two of the soundstages would be 20,000 square feet and the third would be 10,000 square feet. The complex would be on a 4.38-acre site. There would be a total of 238 parking spaces at ground level and on two additional levels.

The global film, TV and audiovisual company MEDIAPRO would occupy the entire studio complex. MEDIAPRO currently operates in 35 countries on four continents. It has operated in the U.S. for about 25 years and has production centers in Miami and New York. It partners with many top names in entertainment, including HBO, Netflix, Amazon, DirectTV, Fox, Viacom and Disney. Productions in which it has been involved have won Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmy Awards.

According to a document filed with Yonkers, the estimated total development cost for the North Broadway Studios project is $16.5 million and it would generate 100 construction jobs. When completed, there would be an estimated 100 full-time employees at the site along with 30 part-time employees.

Spano said that there is interest by the film and TV industry in building additional movie and TV studios in Yonkers. He said it would be inappropriate for him to name names at this point.

“There is active interest,” Spano said. “We”™re hopeful (an announcement) is very, very soon. There”™s talk of more studios in other places in Yonkers so we”™re excited about the prospects. Yonkers is a place that the industry is looking at very, very seriously. We were told early on when we came into City Hall from the governor”™s film office that Yonkers really should be Burbank and at the time I needed to get an education and I needed to find out what we were doing wrong. There were a number of things that we were doing wrong in the city that we changed. When we did, our expectation was that we would get more of the industry to come into the city and actually film movies or TV shows.”

Lionsgate identification on Wells Avenue frontage. Photo by Peter Katz.

Spano said that the opening of Lionsgate and the other two studio projects that are in the works are very exciting for the city and have served to enhance its reputation.

“This is something for us to brag about,” Spano said. “It”™s something that people are excited to hear. It”™s something that”™s very, very positive that”™s associated with Yonkers. Now they”™re going to say, ”˜Yonkers ”” Hollywood on the Hudson.”

Spano expressed his belief that the interest in building studios in Yonkers would not be occurring had it not been for the previous development that took place along the city”™s waterfront that, in turn, attracted developers to launch projects elsewhere in the city.

Spano recalled that in the past when people mentioned Yonkers they thought of Otis Elevator, Yonkers Raceway or the Alexander Smith Carpet Factory as being indicative of the city. He said that when MGM made a major investment in the city by purchasing Empire City Casino and the Yonkers Raceway, MGM and Yonkers became intertwined in the minds of many people. He forecast that Empire City would soon receive a full casino license from New York state, leading to further expansion by MGM, including the possibility of a hotel and convention center. He referred to new residential and commercial real estate projects throughout the city, a full casino license for MGM and movie and TV studios coming to Yonkers as being a “trifecta.”