Silvercup Studios is opening a 120,000-square-foot facility at 295 Locust Avenue in the Port Morris section of the Bronx.
The television and movie production company already has two Long Island City locations, the Wall Street Journal reported. Brothers Alan and Stuart Suna, who founded the studio more than 30 years ago with their father, Harry, bought the location for $15 million from Simone Development Companies. They are planning to invest an additional $20 million into the property.
“The Bronx is experiencing its own renaissance, I don’t think (most) New Yorkers realize,” Stuart Suna told the newspaper.
Price per square foot for industrial sites that were sold for more than $500,000 in the Bronx were $149 in the first quarter of 2015, the newspaper reported. The price for a comparable space in Long Island City was $395 per square foot during that same period.
TV shows such as “30 Rock,” “The Sopranos” and “Gossip Girl” have been filmed at Silvercup Studios.
The movie and television sector in New York City generates about $7.1 billion in direct spending and $400 million in tax revenue, the Journal reported, less than 5 percent of which takes place in the Bronx. [WSJ] — Claire Moses