Steiner Studios is a film studio at Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York City. It is the largest film and television production studio complex in the United States outside Hollywood.[2] Steiner Studios, spread across 50 acres (20 ha), contains 30 soundstages as well as additional support space.
Steiner Studios was founded in 1999,[3] and the first soundstages at the site opened in November 2004. In 2012, Steiner Studios reached an agreement with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to convert its 20-acre Naval Annex Historic Campus into a media and technology hub; the expansion is projected to be completed in the mid-2020s.[4] In 2020, Steiner Studios announced a new $550 million, 900,000 square-foot project in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.[5]
Steiner Studios is home to thirty soundstages, totaling 780,000 square feet (72,000 m2) and making it New York’s largest production facility.[6] There is also an additional 224,000 square feet (20,800 m2) of support space, which includes offices, dressing rooms, hair and make-up rooms, wardrobe rooms, mill shops, a spray booth, and prop storage.[7] Office and support spaces have access to satellite uplinks and a high-speed data backbone.
Soundstages are equipped with full grids from 26 to 45 feet, are column-free, sound-insulated, and offer loading and staging areas.[6] Built to accommodate film, high-definition television (HDTV) and digital camera productions, each stage is wired with a minimum of 4,800 amps of power and 50 to 200 tons of cooling. Stages are accessed via 13-foot-high (4.0 m) to 20-foot-high (6.1 m) elephant doors.
Each stage is attached to production and support space, including make-up and dressing rooms, green rooms, storage areas, conference rooms, and offices. In addition to the enclosed building areas, there are assembly and secondary areas for "lay-down" of materials and equipment used in large-scale film projects. The facility features a 100-seat screening room and a full commissary, on-site parking, 24/7 security and lighting and grip equipment services.[8]
History
In 2003, Douglas C. Steiner began development of what later became New York City's largest television and movie production facility, on 20 acres (8.1 ha) of the Navy Yard.[9] Steiner Studios opened in November 2004.[10][11] The site initially included a 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) studio spread across five stages.[12]
An expansion of the facility through renovation of a seven-story building in the Navy Yard, was announced by chairman Douglas Steiner, on February 15, 2007.[13] The studio was the location of the 17th annual Gotham Awards held on November 27, 2007.[14]
In March 2012, Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled five new sound stages (a total of 30,500 square feet (2,830 m2)) at Steiner Studios.[10][15][16] The new sound stages all feature two or three wall cycloramas.[17]
Brooklyn College opened the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema on Steiner Studios' production lot for the fall 2013 semester.[18] It is the first public graduate school of film in New York and is thought to be the only film school in the country located on a working film lot.[19] In November 2013, Carnegie Mellon University announced the creation of the Integrative Media Program at Steiner Studios.
Expansions
In 2012, Steiner Studios proposed building a media campus at the former site of Brooklyn Naval Hospital.[20][21] located just east of the existing Steiner Studios lot.[22]: Figure 1.0–2 (PDF p. 15) Steiner Studios planned to restore the hospital buildings starting in 2017, and restoration was expected to take nearly a decade.[23]
The extant buildings at the hospital included the main building, surgeon's house, quarters 4 through 7, bachelors' and nurses' quarters, carriage houses and stables, the medical supply depot, and the morgue/lumber shed. Steiner proposed to convert these structures into production, post-production, and production support space.[22]: 1.5 (PDF p. 17) The hospital had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2014.[24] Steiner Studios' plan calls for the restoration of 15 NRHP-listed buildings at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital campus, but would also demolish some of the NRHP-contributing artifacts to make way for the new facility,[22]: 1.12 (PDF p. 24) Structures with a total floor area of 2,700 square feet (250 m2) would be demolished and replaced with landscaped lawn space.[22]: 1.13 (PDF p. 25)
Sunset Park expansion
In 2020, Steiner Studios signed a deal to build a new $550 million studio complex at the city-owned portion of Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where it would erect a studio of 900,000 square feet (84,000 m2) and eight soundstages.[25][26]
Lobbying
Steiner Studios benefits from New York's movie production incentive program. Douglas Steiner donated $40,000 to incumbent New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2022 campaign. The company spends $10,000 a month on lobbyists.[27]
^Katherine Clarke (December 1, 2012). "The Closing with Doug Steiner". The Real Deal. Retrieved March 16, 2016. ...My middle name is Craig ....What's your date of birth? 1960...
