Ontario Construction News staff writer
North Star Studios has purchased a building in a North Bay industrial park to build a film production facility and studio space.
Construction will include five film and television stages and office space, a $26 million investment that will create the region’s largest film and television studio space.
In addition to the floor space in the existing facility, an industrial space that has been closed for about two years, North Star will add another 500,000 square feet of studio space and 500,000 square feet of support space over the next five to seven years.
“There is ample room for expansion,” said Mitch Ouimette, North Star president, adding the project “will truly bring the industry to the North.”
North Star has signed a two-year, $150-million film and television production deal with a production company and estimates $60 million in direct spending into the and potentially 1,000 new full-time jobs.
According to Northern Ontario is becoming a major centre for film and television production.
“Fifteen years ago, if someone had said they were going to make a movie in Toronto, they would have been laughed at,” Ouimette told the North Bay Nugget. “Ten years ago if they had said they were going to film in Northern Ontario, they would have been laughed at.”
Canadore College president and CEO George Burton says the new studio will add another dimension to college programs and opportunities for students.