NJ Lands $900M, 1.5M SF Film Studio in Bayonne

A 60-acre site which used to be a Texaco gasoline refinery next to the Bayonne Bridge will be transformed into a 1.5M SF film and television production facility, Bayonne officials have announced.

Togus Urban Renewal plans to invest up to $900M to build 1888 Studios—so-named for the year the motion picture camera was invented—a complex that will encompass 17 buildings, including soundstages, flex office space, mills and workshops.

The prime contractor, Turner Construction Co., will break ground on the site in Q1 2023. The project will include a new 6-acre waterfront park and walkway at the foot of the iconic Bayonne Bridge.

The Bayonne Bridge and Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge were designed and built simultaneously in 1931 by Swiss master bridge-builder Othmar Amman. Bayonne’s span, which is 25 feet longer than its twin in Sydney, was the longest steel arch bridge in the world when it opened.

The developer, who expects to complete the studio project in the second quarter of 2025, already has spent $60M adding clean fill to the soil at the site, a step required by NJ’s Department of Environmental Protection due to the previous use of the land by the refinery.

Under a financial agreement with the city, 1888 Studios will make more than $200M in payments-in-lieu of taxes (also known as PILOTs) over a 30-year period, with $130M projected to go directly to the city.

NW Financial Group advised the city on the PILOT payments, which were calculated based on the project’s square footage, with annual payments beginning at $7M and growing to $31M.

Togus Urban Renewal also has agreed to spend $50M on public-area improvements, including the park and walkway, according to a report in the Hudson Reporter.

With streaming players creating an exponential demand for new film and TV content, developers are racing to build new studio space in the hottest film production markets in the US, including Los Angeles, the NYC metropolitan area and in Georgia.

In June, Netflix submitted a bid for a 289-acre portion of the former Fort Monmouth US Army base, known as the mega-parcel to local officials, who are expected to award to site to the winning bid next month.

In April, Natural Resources secured a $230M refi for the 500K SF Lionsgate Studio Yonkers, a film production studio project—a partnership between Lionsgate, Great Point Capital Management and National Resources—in Yonkers that completed its first phase in January.

When the first phase of the new Lionsgate studio opened, Great Point Capital unveiled plans for a $500M expansion of the complex that aims to turn the development into the largest film and television production campus in the Northeast.