Mayor Trantalis touts $160M TV, movie and production studio coming to Fort Lauderdale

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – “Lights, camera, action!”: The words are usually spoken in Hollywood, but soon directors will be saying them in the City of Fort Lauderdale where Mayor Dean Trantalis recently announced a partnership to build an estimated $160 million television, movie, and production on the site of an old incinerator facility.

“Technology has definitely taken over the movie industry. Not just movies, but TV production, commercials, and all kinds of video production,” Trantalis told Florida’s Voice. “This will be a much more state-of-the-art tech driven production facility.”

Breaking ground in 2025, the production studio was once home to the Wingate Road Municipal Incinerator Dump Superfund Site. The facility, once located at 1400 NW 31st Ave, was operated by Fort Lauderdale from 1954-1978.

In 1989, The Department of Environmental Protection, or EPA, placed the future studio site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List because of “contaminated soil, sediment and surface water resulting from waste disposal practices.”

The City of Fort Lauderdale and the EPA began cleaning up the dump site in 1996, which included digging up soil and sediment, placing soil and sediment in the landfill, putting a cap in place over the landfill, and monitoring groundwater, surface water and fish tissue.

According to the EPA, the site has since been deemed safe from contamination and does not threaten people living and working near the site. A waterline also connects area residences to the public water supply.

“That site has been remediated through federal Superfunds and has sat pretty much vacant for several decades,” Trantalis said. “There are residential neighborhoods around there so we have to be respectful of our neighbors both during construction and in operation of the facility.”

According to the mayor, the city was approached with the idea of bringing show biz to Fort Lauderdale a few years ago. The site’s future will be tenanted by Infinite Reality, which will pay for the studio construction and development costs along with Fort Lauderdale Studio Initiative LLC.

“Infinite Reality, Inc. provides world-class tools and services that enable creators and companies to develop fully realized immersive experiences. These experiences foster creativity, personal connections, and limitless value for brands looking to shape the future of audience engagement and commercial opportunity,” the company says.

Trantalis emphasized the changing entertainment market as a positive for the city.

“Entertainment today is different then when it was when I grew up, you’re not looking at just three TV networks. You’re looking at all these streaming services seem to be taking command over what the entertainment industry is about these days, and Artificial Intelligence is certainly going to play an important role in what we see on our screen these days,” Trantalis said.

On cost, Trantalis hoped the estimated total would fluctuate based on studio need.

“We think that number will change as they start to build the operation out. This is kind of going to be like trying to build a plane while flying it. They already know some of the basics, but I think its going to present a tremendous opportunity to explore new approaches to entertainment, and I think that will probably add and subtract the cost of such an undertaking,” Trantalis said.

“They might be able to find efficiencies that they didn’t discover before that will reduce the price. At the same time, they’ll find that they need to still do more to add on to what the streaming services and what the movie producers are expecting from these production facilities that maybe before they didn’t anticipate,” Trantalis continued.

Overall, Trantalis highlighted the production studio will include sound stages and back lots often associated with Hollywood. It also will feature high tech content creation for gaming, e-sports, and metaverse. 

“Because of the use of technologies and the benefits that can be derived from all these new discoveries in this scientific field, it changes the whole approach of how we produce movies,” Trantalis said.

As an example, Trantalis suggested not having to hire a 30-piece band that otherwise could be produced digitally. He also mentioned using more green screens instead of building more sets.

“All of that will continue to evolve. This particular studio will take advantage of all those new technologies,” Trantalis added.

Moreover, Trantalis pinpointed the studio’s advantage over places like Hollywood, which are tied to older infrastructure. As for its local impact, Trantalis mentioned its ability to go into area schools, such as Dillard High School, and teach students about show business.

“They wanna pull skill workers from the area around which they are going to build. They also want to begin classes to help teach kids and adults to some of the skills that our necessary in order to make this a successful project,” Trantalis said.

Overall, Trantalis emphasized the goal of the project was to “diversify” the city’s economy.

“We need to find ways to diversify our economy by attracting tech industries and financial services industries. This is all part of that mission to try to draw in a more diversified economy to make Fort Lauderdale a sustainable city for the 21st century,” Trantalis said.

As for its completion, Trantalis hoped cameras could be rolling by 2026.

“We are very excited about it. Because its community driven, we know the sustainability, and feel its a great future for our city and our community as the standard moving forward. I’m ready for my close-up,” Trantalis laughed.