Film studio developer establishes Granite City base in Metro East footprint

 

By MELISSA CROCKETT MESKE
Managing Editor, Illinois Business Journal
[email protected]

A film production company with ties to major Hollywood projects has established a foothold in Granite City as part of a broader effort to build a film and television production campus in the Metro East.

Hollywood River Studios has leased a 50,000-square-foot facility at America’s Central Port, where company founder and CEO Christopher Breakwell plans to create a production support and staging center serving projects throughout the St. Louis region.

The Granite City facility, located in Building 203 at the port, is expected to function as a base camp for productions filming on both sides of the Mississippi River while a larger studio development is constructed in nearby Wood River.

Breakwell, a former banker who previously developed a film studio complex in the Pittsburgh area, said the Granite City site’s high ceilings and open floor plan make it well-suited for set construction, equipment storage and production operations.

The lease followed a rehabilitation effort by America’s Central Port, which invested grant funding to upgrade the aging building. Improvements included a new roof, updated windows and doors, office renovations, lighting upgrades, sprinkler system improvements and interior remodeling to prepare the facility for commercial use.

The larger Hollywood River Studios development still shaping up in Wood River carries an estimated price tag of $95 million and includes up to six sound stages, production offices, podcast studios, a hotel, conference center and an e-sports arena. Phase One, valued at approximately $62 million, is expected to include the first three sound stages and gaming facilities.

When fully developed, the Wood River project is expected to create approximately 500 permanent jobs, along with the estimated 300 construction jobs, and hundreds of temporary positions associated with individual productions.

Breakwell said Illinois’ film production tax incentives were a major factor in selecting the Metro East for the studio footprint. The state’s incentive program offers a base credit of 35 percent for qualified productions and stays authorized through 2039, providing long-term certainty for investors and production companies. Added incentives through the state are available for projects filmed outside the Chicago region and for environmentally certified productions.

Industry activity has accelerated in Illinois in recent years. The state recorded more than $700 million in film and television production spending last year, according to figures cited by Breakwell in other media interviews.

The developer believes the region’s combination of Illinois production incentives, Missouri filming locations and the area’s diverse architecture could make the St. Louis metropolitan area increasingly attractive to film and television producers.

Breakwell has also said the project could help retain graduates from regional colleges and universities by creating local career opportunities in film and media production.

Local officials view the development as an opportunity to diversify the Metro East economy beyond its traditional manufacturing and industrial sectors while attracting new investment tied to the growing entertainment industry.

The Granite City facility is expected to begin supporting productions as early as next year.

Breakwell has a blueprint to follow in his Metro East development from earlier career endeavors. In 2010, he transformed a former steel mill in his Pittsburgh hometown into a production studio, which hosted over 40 film shoots. Among the more noted shoots at Breakwell’s Pittsburgh studio location: Netflix’s The Dark Knight Rises, The Fault in Our Stars, and Jack Reacher.