Canyon Partners Real Estate LLC ("Canyon") and J.P. Morgan today announced they have co-originated a $193 million senior construction loan to East End Studios for the ground-up development of the firm's Sunnyside Campus, a media and content production studio in Queens, New York. Construction of the studio commenced with the loan closing and is expected to be completed by Q1 2025.
East End Studios – Sunnyside Campus will be a 275,000 square foot Class-A facility featuring three best-in-class, full-service, ground floor sound stages spanning 75,000 square feet. The stages will have 37' clear heights and may be subdivided. The project also houses a 15,000 square foot rooftop flex-stage, with 26' clear heights, that offers sweeping views of the Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan skylines and ample outdoor gathering space. The stages are supported by 125,000 square feet of production, office, and mill spaces, 225 below-grade parking spaces, and eight enclosed loading bays at grade for full size trucks. Like all East End Studios' projects, the Sunnyside facility will be fully integrated with XR/VR infrastructure.
Positioned on a full city block between Queens Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway, and only a short walk to the 7-train and Long Island Railroad, the Sunnyside studio campus offers cast and crew members excellent public transportation options, as well as hyper-efficient vehicular and truck access.
"New York City is one of the largest entertainment markets in the world, with significant unmet demand. Our Sunnyside Campus is going to meet that demand while establishing an elevated standard for modern studio workflows," said Jonathon Yormak, a founding partner at East End Studios.
The New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYCIDA), which supports business growth, relocation, and expansion across the five boroughs (of New York City) by lowering the cost of capital investment, provided valuable tax incentives for East End Studios – Sunnyside Campus. Sunil Aggarwal of Think Forward Financial consulted with East End Studios to facilitate the NYCIDA transaction.
"The development of the new East End Studios – Sunnyside Campus is going to be an economic boom for the film and TV industry and provide much-needed studio space in New York City which will result in hundreds of new, good paying jobs for New Yorkers," said New York City Economic Development Corporation President & CEO Andrew Kimball. "We are thankful to all our partners who are making the development of this state-of-the-art facility possible and helping drive a key industry in New York City."
The Sunnyside development capitalizes on the entertainment industry's need for well-designed and well-located production space. As a premier hub for media and content creation, New York's entertainment market is positioned for long-term growth due to recently enhanced tax incentives programs for media companies, the availability of industry talent both in front of and behind the cameras, and an abundance of on-location filming resources.
"The new East End Studios – Sunnyside Campus will serve as an economic driver for local businesses and create jobs for New Yorkers, advancing our city's $82 billion film and TV industry, which makes up 6.5% of our total GDP," said Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Pat Swinney Kaufman. "Thanks to the expansion of the NYS Film Tax Credit, eligible TV productions are provided an incentive to relocate to NY, where new soundstages, like this one, can support future "Made in NY" productions."
Mr. Yormak added, "East End Studios is exceptionally proud to participate in the City's ever-growing place in the production landscape. We are honored to have received the support of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the NYCIDA, and the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, and to be partnering with Canyon and J.P. Morgan, on this exciting development."
Canyon has been an active provider of debt and equity in New York and continues to invest in real estate projects in primary and secondary markets across the United States. Since its inception, Canyon has invested $950 million in debt and equity to capitalize $3.3 billion of total projects across all asset types in the state of New York.
About Canyon Partners LLC
Founded in 1991, Canyon Partners Real Estate LLC is the real estate direct investing arm of Canyon Partners, LLC, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $24.0 billion in assets under management. Over the last ten years, Canyon has invested approximately $5.6 billion of debt and equity capital across over 200 transactions capitalizing approximately $17.6 billion of real estate assets, focusing on debt, value add, and opportunistic strategies. With 31 years of experience, Canyon has established a broad menu of investment capabilities spanning property types, US regions, and project stages (including development, transitional, and distressed/workouts).
For more information visit: www.canyonpartners.com.
About East End Studios
East End Studios is a premier independent studio management and development company, headquartered in Los Angeles, that offers thoughtfully designed full-service studio facilities catering especially to modern production workflows. When complete, East End's newly built studio portfolio will total over 2.5 million square feet across various developments in Los Angeles, CA and Queens, New York. The five campuses will house thirty-eight (38) purpose built best-in-class stages with an approximately 1:1 ratio of appurtenant Class-A office/production/mill/support spaces. All East End Studios' campuses will be fully equipped to handle modern XR/VR workflows.
For more information visit: www.eastendstudios.com.
