Despite the diverse nature of Filmport, the venture is clearly focused on its celluloid center. Besides 500,000 sf of studio space, the surrounding commercial elements outside the gates are envisioned as home for post-production companies, union and guild offices, film schools and ancillary restaurants and retail. In backing the $275 million undertaking, GE Real Estate GM Alex Sieber calls Filmport an "innovative, well-conceived" project, adding that, "we have developed considerable respect and appreciation for all involved in the deal." That roster includes TFS and its partners, the Rose Corp. and ComWeb Corp., as well as TEDCO and supporters Lytton Financial and CIBC World Markets. "This team will surely continue to be a part of a very positive venture for the city of Toronto," says Sieber.

Upon securing the GE loan, TFS announced it will break ground next spring on Filmport's initial structure, a $50 million office building that will serve as headquarters to TFS and house related operations for other film-oriented firms. The architect is UK-based designer Will Alsop and Quadrangle Architects of Toronto, whose futuristic concept includes a curved curtain wall exterior and 280,000-sf of interactive space in an 11-story frame. "As master planning architects for Filmport, we are thrilled to be collaborating with Will Alsop on this key building," Quadrangle principal Les Klein says in a release unveiling the design.

Supporters of Ontario's film sector trace its lineage back a century, and Toronto has been a popular option for both television and the big screen, serving as the backdrop for such movies as Cheaper by the Dozen, Cinderella Man, the Sentinel and Fever Pitch, a film about the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series. More recently, however, as countries and individual states including Massachusetts heavily recruited film work by offering tax breaks and other programs, Ontario slipped as a preferred destination, especially for films whose budgets exceeded $100 million due to a lack of suitable facilities. In response, Filmport calls for six sound stages, including a 45,000-sf building being touted as the largest purpose-built sound stage on the continent. The remaining sound stages will run between 12,000 and 30,000 sf, providing what supporters says is the largest cluster of studio space outside of Los Angeles.

Based in Stamford, CT, GE Real Estate is supporting Filmport via its Business Property Division, an entity whose single-tenant financing products include conventional mortgages, sale/leasebacks, and the construction-to-permanent loan offered to Filmport. Canada is seen as an area of growth for the division, says Sieber, and GE Capital has doubled the project team there to extend its activities.