Netflix Bids to Build Studio at Former Army Base in NJ

New Jersey officials who have spent years trying to lure a major project to one of the largest available sites in the Garden State—the former US Army base at Fort Monmouth, which straddles Eatontown and Oceanport—breathed a sigh of relief on Monday as the opening of bids confirmed that Netflix is aiming to acquire the site for a TV and film production complex.

When the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) originally put the site—known locally as the Mega Parcel—up for bid in October, it was widely assumed that the most interested buyer was Netflix, which had been discussing a relocation from its studio in Georgia.

However, a dispute over a bowling alley included in the parcel at the former Army base, which closed in 2011, forced the development authority to toss out the bids and restart the process.

In the interim, Netflix disclosed in an earnings call that it lost 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022—the streaming giant’s first decline in subscribers in more than a decade—and said it was projecting to lose up to 2M more.

Despite these setbacks, a bid listed as Netflix Studio Fort Monmouth was among the four offers FMERA received on Monday.

Three other bids were made for the Mega Parcel, including bids from Extell Acquisitions, a developer of luxury condos; RDR Partners, a partnership based in Red Bank, NJ that was involved in converting a former flag factory in Verona into apartment lofts; and a company calling itself Mega Parcel Development, according to a report in Asbury Park Press.

If the offer from Netflix, terms of which were not disclosed, ends up as the winning bid, the project will become the second major film studio to choose New Jersey for its production facility.

Last month, Great Point Studios, a studio management business specializing in film and television infrastructure, announced a partnership with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center to build a $125M TV and film production studio in Newark’s South Ward.

The facility, a redevelopment of 12 acres of the former Seth Boyden public housing complex, will be called Lionsgate Studio Newark.

Great Point Studios, an investment and development group led by Hallmark Channel founder Robert Halmi and media investment banker Fehmi Zeko, earlier this year opened the first phase of a $500M film production campus it is building in downtown Yonkers, NY, including a 500K SF studio for Lionsgate.

Demand for soundstages in the New York area is so strong that production companies, who usually rent space for three to 12 months are signing 5- to 10-year leases with film studios, CBRE reported last month.

At least nine studios have initiated projects with an estimated 1 million square feet of new soundstage space in NY/NJ; the current inventory in the New York metro, including northern NJ, for soundstages and filming areas is approaching 3 million SF, CRBE said.

CRE investors and existing film production companies recently have been making acquisitions to increase their share of the NJ/NJ soundstage space.

Steiner Studios, which opened in the Brooklyn Navy yard in 2004, is starting construction on a 900K SF film production facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Since 2004, NY State has offered tax credits for film production projects.

Hackman Capital Partners, in partnership with Square Mile Capital Management, bought Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens last year. In 2020, The partnership acquired Silvercup Studios, which has three film campuses in Queens and the Bronx, including the original, which was converted from the historic Silvercup bakery in NYC.