NYU’s Martin Scorsese Production Center Headed to 46K SF at Industry City
By Celia Young March 9, 2023 2:58 pm
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New York University’s new film production facility, named after legendary director Martin Scorsese, plans to take shape at 45,586 square feet in the mean streets of Brooklyn’s Industry City.
NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts signed a long-term deal to open the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center in Building 8 of the Sunset Park campus, according to a spokesperson for landlords Belvedere Capital, Jamestown and Angelo Gordon & Co.
Spokespeople for NYU and the landlords declined to comment on the terms of the lease, but asking rents in Industry City ranged from $15 to $40 per square foot in November 2022.
The Scorsese Center will sport two 3,500-square-foot stages, two 1,800-square-foot television studios, a lounge, a bistro, and training space where students will learn how to create visual effects for movies in real time, according to the goodfellas at NYU. NYU also plans to let students collaborate with local film and media companies.
“The partnerships we forge, along with the inspiring legacy of Martin Scorsese, will make it possible for the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center to become a place that fuels the development of new and exciting talent in all areas of the cinematic arts for NYU Tisch students and for the New York City film industry,” Allyson Green, Tisch’s dean, said in a statement.
The center was established in 2021 thanks to a donation from “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, the co-CEO of Ariel Investments, according to NYU. The center was named after Scorsese — an NYU alum known for films such as “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” — who described it to the Associated Press as “a singular and remarkable honor.”
NYU didn’t disclose the donation amount but said it was the largest gift in the university’s history.
The Scorsese Center will join more than 70 other film- and media-related businesses at 6 million-square-foot Industry City, including audio-visual store AbelCine, animation production company Buck and stage lighting sellers Lux Lighting. Industry City also houses another NYU spot, The Veterans Future Lab, a business incubator for veterans.
“[NYU] has been an incredible partner throughout the evolution of the campus,” Glen Siegel, managing partner at Industry City, said in a statement. “The addition of the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center is the next chapter in this evolution, enabling students to learn and train alongside experts in their field.”
It was not immediately clear who brokered the deal.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
