Ex-GM building in Pontiac to house sound stage (Crain Detroit article) By Daniel Duggan Investors building a film studio in Pontiac have finalized the purchase of a former General Motors Co. facility.
Closing on the Centerpoint building beat an April 30 deadline and construction is likely to start May 15, said Michigan Motion Picture Studios L.L.C. Chairman and CEO Linden Nelson.
“Everybody is really excited, and we’re moving forward,” Nelson said.
Under a land contract signed in June, the investors were given equitable title but only paid a deposit. They were required to pay the full sale price by last September, otherwise GM would take the property back. The deadline was later extended to April 30.
Nelson declined to say how much was paid, but verified the closing happened two weeks ago. Southfield-based AlixPartners L.L.C. and the Detroit office of Jones Lang LaSalle were brokers on the deal.
The 368,000-square-foot building will be renovated and an 185,000-square-foot sound stage building will be built. Backed by Hollywood-based Raleigh Studios, investors are Walbridge CEO John Rakolta, developer Alfred Taubman and talent agent Ari Emanuel, brother of President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.
The project’s final hurdle is approval by the Oakland County Economic Development Corp. on issuance of $25 million in recovery bonds. Mary Langhauser, the county’s supervisor of financial services, said the EDC board is next scheduled to meet May 18 but would hold a special meeting if needed to expedite the process.
The project’s delays stem from the fact the studio is using funding sources never put together in the past, Nelson said.
In addition to the recovery bonds, the $60 million project is funded by $5 million from investors, $3.8 million of Infrastructure Recovery for the city of Pontiac, $15 million in federal New Markets Tax Credits and $11.1 million in Michigan Film Infrastructure Tax Credits.
An educational division is expected to start training workers by the end of August, while construction on the film studio is expected to be completed by March. An estimated 3,000 jobs will be created.
Daniel Duggan
Crains Detroit
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Tonight in her “State of The State” address, governer Granholm will announce the development of the $54 million Motown Motion Picture Studio; a new 600,000-square-foot space at General Motors Corp.’s former Centerpoint truck plant. The studio complex will create about 3,600 direct jobs and more than 1,500 indirect job. (
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