Media Facilities: Several studio projects in production
by Bill Shea for Crain’s Detroit Business
Michigan’s film industry incentives include a 25 percent tax credit for infrastructure projects, and several are currently under way in metro Detroit.
Ferndale-based S3 Entertainment Group L.L.C. announced on Jan. 8 that its S3 Studios film and television production facility in Madison Heights is open and that six productions have booked time starting in February.
The site includes a 25,000-square-foot stage, 10,000 square feet of furnished office space, post-production facilities, a screening room and other film infrastructure support.
“It’s been difficult for people to develop large-scale infrastructure S3 founder Jeff Spillman said, because of the difficulty in getting financing.
Hollywood-based Raleigh Studios has committed to building a $75 million, 200,000-square-foot studio at the idle Pontiac Centerpoint complex that it signed a deal with last year to buy from General Motors Co.
That project remains in development. It’s backed by local entrepreneur-turned-real-estate-developer Linden Nelson, Alfred Taubman of Bloomfield Hills-based Taubman Centers Inc. and high-profile Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel.
Unity Studios, majority owned and operated by investors from Los Angeles and Michigan, is outfitting a 750,000-square-foot production and training facility in Allen Park. Sound-stage construction is expected to begin in coming months.
And in Detroit, 23rd Street Studios has an 18-acre complex at 23rd Street and Michigan Avenue.
The movie boom has also produced casualties: Southfield-based Parallax Production Studios, which announced a $60-million post-production deal with California-based New Castle Entertainment to make up to 12 movies, went out of business before getting off the ground.
And television and video game producer Michele Richards’ plan to build an $86 million animation and film studio, called Wonderstruck Studios and Detroit Center Studios, in the old MGM Grand site went on hold after talks collapsed with the site’s owner.
However, a new site has been identified and negotiations are under way, she said.
“We’re still committed to Detroit, Richards said.
The project still has an $86 million value, which garnered her a 12-year, $16.9 million state tax credit and other incentives. L.A.-based real estate and studio developers SHM Partners remain financial backers of the project, she said.
