Will New Jersey be the next Hollywood?   

Hollywood has its sights set on Jersey – or at least British aristocrat and London financier Arpad “Arki” Busson does.

Busson, with help from Moore Capital and the Rothschild family, is set to build a massive entertainment campus for 1888 Studios on 70 acres of former Texaco land in Bayonne, New Jersey, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The project will include 23 soundstages, which will each range from 18,000 to 60,000 square feet, as well as a loading dock and helipad. All said, the project will comprise 17 buildings totaling over 1.5 million square feet, according to the company’s website.

1888 Studios, whose tagline is “for movie makers by movie makers,” represents itself as “one of the largest entertainment developments in the country” with state-of-the-art production facilities close to New York City.

Busson, who has made friends with people like Jon Bon Jovi and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, told the Journalthat  New York is lagging on the infrastructure side without “a campus” and “a mix of stages for film and TV on a single complex.”

Busson chose New Jersey for its favorable tax credits, proximity to the city and easy access to the talent pool in both states. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority granted Busson up to 50 percent of project costs as tax credits with a cap at $400 million.

Over the last few years, the film industry has been eyeing potential sites in New Jersey, thanks to its attractive incentives. Netflix has plans to turn the former site of an Army base in Fort Monmouth into a production facility, and Great Point Studios is set to convert Newark’s first public housing site, the Seth Boyden Court, into a massive film studio for its $100 million Lionsgate Newark project.

But Hollywood isn’t forgetting about New York entirely. With the state’s annual film tax credit increased by the legislature this year from $420 million to $700 million, Robert DeNiro and others, including Blackstone and Vornado Realty Trust, are setting up production in the city.

  — Christina Previte

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