NEW YORK CITY-A production studio synonymous with national TV hits like Sex & the City, Damages and Boardwalk Empire furthered its commitment to Brooklyn’s industrial sector after agreeing to double its amount of soundstage space along the borough's waterfront. Locally-based Steiner Studios joined city officials on Monday morning to announce that the company will add five new soundstages totaling 45,000 square feet at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
“A little over a decade ago, New York City struggled to attract the lucrative production industry to film here,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during the conference. “Now the city is such a popular and prosperous home to hundreds of films and television shows, we have to work hard to keep up with the demand for stages and production facilities. These new soundstages at Steiner Studios will create jobs, and expanding our workforce development programs with new grants will help the next generation of production professionals start their careers on the right track.”
Coupled with five existing stages on the 20-acre property, Steiner Studios now totals 355,000 square feet, including editing suites, mill shops and prop storage. The company first opened for business in 2004, and according to its president Doug Steiner, the studio will “continue to expand.”
“This is the preeminent urban industrial complex in the country right now,” he said, hoping to expand to 50 acres in time. “We want this to be known as the content creation district.”
The deal is going hand-in-hand with the city’s efforts to strengthen and invest in the film, television and entertainment industry. Bloomberg said the city would be allotting $500,000 in training grants that prepare residents for careers in digital fields, as well as adding a new entertainment component to the city’s mini-MBA partnership.
The city will also release an RFP for the establishment of a social media hub in the five boroughs called the “Made in NY” Media Center, which will be designed as an incubator space with affordable rents where traditional media companies and new media entrepreneurs can meet, interact and collaborate. New York City Economic Development Corp’s Seth Pinsky says the center will become the 10th incubator space in the city, which has the potential to create 900-plus jobs and host around 1,000 companies.
The news comes at a time when creative, tech and light industrial space is high in demand. The 4.5-million-square-foot Brooklyn Navy Yard—part of the city’s proposed “Tech Triangle” district—is 98% occupied, and more than 100 companies are on a waiting list to get in, according to Brooklyn Tech Triangle Partners.
Andrew Kimball, President & CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp., says the rapid growth of Steiner Studios means the "rapid growth of manufacturing and good-paying jobs in the Navy Yard."
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