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

A rendering of the proposed Raleigh Michigan Studios

Also:

The studio had been getting some flak from Motown Records, which thought the name of the studio was too similar to the record company.

In addition, you can find out more about the largest investor in the project, the Bloomfield Hills based shopping mall developer Taubman in today’s Detroit News.

The independent movie The Irishman is currenlty filmming at the remains of former Tigers Stadium in Detroit, which has pushed back it’s demplotion by one day.  The Irsihmen will also shoot in Detroit’s Cass Corridor, Eastern Market and Corktown. On a side note, earlier this decade the HBO movie 61* was filmed in Tigers Stadium.

More then 5,000 people showed up or tuned in yesterday to hear about the new Allen Park Film Studios.

S3 Entertainment Group in Ferndale offers first ever Hollywood Film Camp.

The City of Romeo opens up a new film office.

CEO and Chairman John Rakolta Jr. of construction company Walbridge talks about their plans to build the new MoTown Movie Studios in Pontiac.

The Metro Time has a behind the scenes look for the casting call for the upcoming Monster Garage Detroit Edition on Deiscovery Channel later this year.

This weekend a film crew will start shooting in Genesee Township outside of Flint, Michigan for a National Park Service movie on the 1862 Civil War Battle of Corinth (fought about 20 miles from the famous Battle of Shiloh.)

WXYZ Detroit has the first look at the new MoTown Motion Picture Studio opening up later this year in a former GM Plant in Pontiac Michigan.  The 7 sound stage studio is expected to bring in over 3,000 permanent and over 10,000 support positions to Southeast Michigan.  They also stated in the news piece that Steven Spielberg is looking to shoot an upcoming movie at the vacancy Pontiac Silverdome.

Grand Rapids Wood TV 8 has a behind the scenes look at the upcoming 50 Cent and Chris Klein crime drama Caught In The Crossfire, which is currently shooting in Grand Rapids