Former Staten Island correctional facility will transform into sound stages

Staten Island’s former correctional facility has been sold to Greenpoint-based soundstage company, Broadway Stages. As part of the $7 million deal, the company has pledged to invest $20 million into renovating the property’s 45 different buildings in addition to the jail, over the next five years, reports Crain’s.

Broadway Stages is hoping to utilize the former 400-cell Arthur Kill Correctional Facility in Rossville into a space that will encourage more film and television production to take place in New York City, especially (and obviously) for prison-themed shows and movies. The site could welcome as many as six sound stages.

“To have a prison in the city that has such a feeling of authenticity to it is going to be very attractive to a lot of productions that are otherwise based in the city,” said Broadway Stages president and CEO Gina Argento.

The company has its work cut out for them before the site will be in decent condition. The jail has been shut down since 2011 so plumbing, water, and electricity needs to be restored in order to bring the property up to code. There are also plans to use some of the on-site buildings as office space for productions.

• Old Arthur Kill prison property finally OK'd to become film and TV soundstages [Crain’s]