Netflix Wins Bid for Fort Monmouth Mega-Parcel in NJ

Netflix has emerged as the winning bidder for a 293-acre mega-parcel at the former Fort Monmouth US Army base in Monmouth County, NJ. The streaming giant plans to build a film production facility on the site—the second major film studio to be announced in the Garden State in the past month.

According to a report in the Asbury Park Press, Netflix confirmed that it is the “preferred choice” of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), the agency in charge of redeveloping the army base, among four companies that submitted bids in June for the mega-parcel.

The mega-parcel was cobbled together from smaller pieces of the sprawling former base by the FMERA for the express purpose of luring the Netflix studio from Georgia to New Jersey.

FMERA confirmed to the newspaper that it has chosen a bidder but said it will refrain from comment until a fully negotiated purchase, sale and redevelopment agreement for the site is reached with the winning bidder.

Except for a handful of relatively small tenants, most of Fort Monmouth has been unoccupied since the Army closed the base in 2011. When it was functioning, the base was Monmouth County’s largest employer, providing an estimated 15,000 jobs.

“If our plans are approved, we hope to build a facility that will create significant economic impact and job growth for New Jersey, a state loaded with creative talent and technical expertise,” a Netflix spokesperson said, in a statement given to the Asbury Park Press.

Last month, Bayonne officials announced that a 60-acre site next to the Bayonne Bridge, which used to be a Texaco gasoline refinery, will be transformed into a 1.5M SF film and television production facility.

Togus Urban Renewal plans to invest up to $900M to build 1888 Studios—so-named for the year the motion picture camera was invented—a complex that will encompass 17 buildings, including soundstages, flex office space, mills and workshops.

The prime contractor, Turner Construction Co., will break ground on the site in Q1 2023. The project will include a new 6-acre waterfront park and walkway at the foot of the iconic Bayonne Bridge.

The Bayonne Bridge and Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge were designed and built simultaneously in 1931 by Swiss master bridge-builder Othmar Amman. Bayonne’s span, which is 25 feet longer than its twin in Sydney, was the longest steel arch bridge in the world when it opened.

The developer, who expects to complete the studio project in the second quarter of 2025, already has spent $60M adding clean fill to the soil at the site, a step required by NJ’s Department of Environmental Protection due to the previous use of the land by the refinery.

Under a financial agreement with the city, 1888 Studios will make more than $200M in payments-in-lieu of taxes (also known as PILOTs) over a 30-year period, with $130M projected to go directly to the city.

NW Financial Group advised the city on the PILOT payments, which were calculated based on the project’s square footage, with annual payments beginning at $7M and growing to $31M.

Togus Urban Renewal also has agreed to spend $50M on public-area improvements, including the park and walkway, according to a report in the Hudson Reporter.

With streaming players creating an exponential demand for new film and TV content, developers are racing to build new studio space in the hottest film production markets in the US, including Los Angeles, the NYC metropolitan area and in Georgia.

In April, Natural Resources secured a $230M refi for the 500K SF Lionsgate Studio Yonkers, a film production studio project—a partnership between Lionsgate, Great Point Capital Management and National Resources—in Yonkers that completed its first phase in January.

When the first phase of the new Lionsgate studio opened, Great Point Capital unveiled plans for a $500M expansion of the complex that aims to turn the development into the largest film and television production campus in the Northeast.