Construction Begins On $350M Hudson River Studio: Report

HELL'S KITCHEN — A film studio on the Hudson River has started building the future of film in Manhattan, reporting says.

Outside of the future Sunset Pier 94 Studios — a film and television campus slated for the West 52nd Street pier — workers are laboring to erect green construction fencing around the area, according to W42ST.

On the water, the online news magazine reports that workers were setting up barriers and buoys to protect Clinton Cove.

The work begins just about a month after two huge investment firms agreed to flush funds into the project, with over $350 million invested, according to a late August announcement, working alongside the city and the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Vornado has a just-below 50 percent stake in the project, with Hudson Pacific and Blackstone nearly evenly splitting the rest of the public-private venture.

The 266,000-square-foot studios will include six soundstages to accommodate television series, live audience shows and feature films, NYCEDC said at the time.

Backers estimate the studio could generate $6.4 billion for the local economy over the next 30 years with 1,300 construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs.

While the mayor and CEOs concerned celebrated the late-summer financing deal as a win for the economy, the Daily News notes the project comes despite objections from the local community board, who reached out to the Deputy Mayor's office in May to share their concerns.

"For 14 years, Manhattan Community Board 4 (MCB4) has been waiting for the long promised public improvements in the area of Pier 92 and 94, and for those 14 years the community has been failed by EDC and Vornado," the board wrote.

"Upon a thorough review of the difficult-to-access-by-the public lease for Pier 94, and with the new findings provided from the lease of the Manhattan Cruise Ship Terminal, MCB4 remains deeply concerned by the lease terms and the process by which it was developed."

Currently the Hudson River only has one active soundstage, located at Pier 59 Studios in Chelsea.