Port Washington North officials approve movie studio project

The project has been in the approvals process for two years and was lowered in height from an original 65 feet amid local opposition

(Google Maps, Getty)
(Google Maps, Getty)

Port Washington North village officials have approved plans to build a movie studio at a vacant complex on Channel Drive.

The approval caps a two-year planning and approvals process, Newsday reported. Some local residents took issue with the project’s original 65-foot height so the complex was brought down to 50 feet.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The developer is Parviz Farahzad, who owns Grumman Studios in Bethpage. Farazhad bought the 13-acre site in 2014 for $7.3 million and proposed a studio there in late 2018.

Residents at the most recent hearing for the project also took issue with tax breaks that Farahzad received last year, but village officials said that was not within their purview to consider. Patchogue-based BLD Architecture is designing the project and estimates a 14-month construction timeline. [Newsday] — Dennis Lynch