New Film Production Studio Will Make Its Home on the West Side

By Camela Furry in Miscellaneous on Nov 5, 2009 3:20PM

The owner of a Toronto film studio has purchased 48 acres on the West Side with plans to develop a film and tv production complex reports WBBM. Nick Mirkopoulos chairman of Cinespace Studios said he paid about $20 million for the property at 2558 W. 16th St., a complex of nine buildings which was the Ryerson Inc. headquarters and old metals plant.

The Illinois senate endorsed a $5 million grant last week for the operation which will be called Chicago Film Studios. Mirkopoulos told WBBM he "forsees a business based mostly on Hollywood film releases whose production companies are drawn by state tax incentives." The tax incentive he refers to is a tax credit offered by the state equal to 30% of Illinois production costs and worker salaries.

Work on converting the space will start as early as January, and Brian Rainville, executive director of Teamsters Joint Council 25 is happy because the construction project and movie production in the city means work for union members - "Remember that each movie production is a major construction project."