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Last December, the township approved a redevelopment agreement to develop a film studio at the site credited with the birthplace film industry.
The studio will be build on 12.2 acres adjacent to Thomas Edison National Historical Park and behind the Edison Lofts on Main Street, the site of the original film production studio, Black Maria, from the late 1880s. Edison is credited as one of the inventors of motion pictures.
"A film studio in downtown West Orange is the most appropriate historic location in the world and will bring prosperity to the town just as Thomas Edison did in the late 1880s," West Orange Mayor Susan McCartney said.
Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio was completed in Feb. 1893 and produced between 200 and 300 films in the studio, including the first recorded sneeze, the first kiss and the first dance, according to the National Park Service. Black Maria fell into disuse after film production shifted to New York and it was dismantled in 1903. A replica was constructed by the Thomas Edison Foundation in 1954.
The redevelopment agreement will see Matrix Development Group pay the Township $200,000, while they formulate project details, finalize a purchase and sale agreement for township properties and further evaluate environmental conditions, the township said.
The Due Diligence Period can be extended for an additional eight months with an additional payment of $200,000.
The film studio will be between 150,000 and 350,000 square feet and will include between three and six production stages ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet each.
Each production stage will be serviced by on site production services. The facility will also include office and support space as well as parking to accommodate between 200-400 cars and 30-60 trucks. The town expects the studio to create between 300 and 600 full-time jobs.
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