NYC Made a Big Bet on TV and Film Studios. Will They Survive an Industry Shakeout?
The cavernous Brooklyn Navy Yard building, once a machine foundry, is the length of a football field and has 58-foot-high ceilings. Today, it is filled with scaffolding, as real estate developer Doug Steiner spends $95 million to add two more sound stages to the Steiner Studios complex there.
He had planned on beginning the renovation a couple of years ago, but the success of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” delayed the project since it was using the unrenovated space and he didn’t want to force such an important client to relocate the intricate sets its crew had built.
In that time, interest rates rose, raising the cost of the project. More importantly, the film and TV industry was shut down last year by actors and writers strikes that dented Hollywood profits.
And worrisome signs for the tattered industry continue to abound, including attendance declines, belt-tightening on budgets and turmoil among media companies.
