From the NY Times:Dust off the Duesenberg. New York is getting two new studio gates.
The gates will close off a one-block stretch of 36th Street in Astoria, Queens, allowing Kaufman Astoria Studios to consolidate its complex on either side of the street. This will allow the studio to create — in the former roadway itself — a 34,800-square-foot back lot, almost exactly where many outdoor scenes were filmed in the 1920s and ’30s for movies that are themselves long forgotten.
“When you think of going to a studio, you expect to pull up to a gate,” said Hal G. Rosenbluth, the president of Kaufman Astoria. “This will become an iconic symbol for the area.”
The historical heart of Kaufman Astoria complex is an enormous studio building on 35th Avenue that was opened in 1920 by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the predecessor to Paramount Pictures. Directly behind this building was a back lot, now occupied by soundstages and offices, that was used for dozens of movies produced or distributed by Paramount until 1939.
The new back lot will be 60 feet wide and 580 feet long, running from 35th Avenue to 34th Avenue. Studio executives and city officials envision it as an alternative to some of the location filming that snarls neighborhoods and tests New Yorkers’ patience. It would offer filmmakers a controlled outdoor environment on which temporary sets could be constructed, stunts and car chases could be staged and large-scale equipment could be used.
Kaufman Astoria rents its studios to producers. (All Saints Hospital from “Nurse Jackie” occupies Stage G, for example, while “Sesame Street” can be found on Stage J.) It has not been affiliated with Paramount Pictures for many decades. It will lease this one block of 36th Street from New York City and effectively control it until 2049.
As a technical matter, the 36th Street segment has been closed — or “de-mapped” — since June 2012. In 2015, Kaufman Astoria will begin paying rent; it will start at $140,000 annually and escalate every five years. It has already begun making payments to the city in lieu of real estate taxes. These began at $33,137 annually and will increase every year.
5 comments:
Maybe they should buy the Steinway Mansion and use it for a film study center satellite library.
That's better than letting Pietro Vallone Jr. kiss it off
as he has!
Notice how the Vallones have been fucking Astoria up the ass for decades?
You voters are at fault for not ripping off their balls at the polls!
Good...continue being a submissive rape victim of these political mobsters without putting up a fight!
You'll get what you deserve!
The industry is running like rats out of California and looking for space and tax breaks. It is the best of those people who get the primary jobs.
As a former IATSE and SAG member I know this business and its a dirty deal for Queens, lots of lies.
No locals will be able to get job's unless they are SAG or blood related to an dead IATSE union members and get voted "in".
"Good for the area and local business"
--Total bullshit, TOTAL BULLSHIT not a chance, lies !
To get the tax breaks and street permits production must use catering and assorted company's off the "Mayors office list" to which 9 out of 10 are Manhattan based. This includes hardware stores, grip and production equipment rental if needed.
Trucks delivering sets (built in Mexico and Delaware) are gonna terrorize the neighborhood.
(there is no more set building in New York City)
There is nothing ZERO in the dirty deal for Queens but loss of sleep during summer filming, street parking and more truck traffic.
Leave Vallone alone. Isn't this in Jimmy Van B's district?
It's literally one building inside Van Bramer's district, so for sure Vallone had a hand in this. And why should we leave him alone?
We should leave Vallone alone?
But Vallone won't leave Queens alone.
Trample this political mafia family into the dirt at the polls...and F.U. IN SPADES, TROLL!
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