Financing for the facility already is in place, says Daniels, who now becomes chief executive officer of the new Four Starz entity. Besides Daniels, the board of directors also appointed Daniel De Liege as president and chief operating officer.

Since its formation last year, Four Starz has raised capital for several film productions including a $25 million film about the life of Don Aronow, the slain Miami designer and builder of the famed Cigarette speed boat. The producer is Steve Perry, known for his work on the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard action series.

"This is a very exciting project," Daniels says about the proposed TV, film and music-making studios. "Miami has become a film-making capital. Things are happening on a significant magnitude here. There's not a day that goes by that films are not being shot down here."

Although they're being shot in South Florida, Daniels adds, many of the films are being sent to Hollywood, CA or even Orlando for pre-production and post-production work. By selecting the Wynwood site, however, the company is negotiating for a property at the center of several ongoing disputes.

Last year, for instance, the nonprofit ownership filed an eviction notice against the company selected to manage the free-trade zone operation. The group has also sued Miami twice before.

In the mid-1990s, the group alleged the city wrongfully withheld $5.5 million in community block development grant money earmarked for the trade zone project. The nonprofit group accused the city of discriminatory action in an action filed last December in Federal court.