Pittsburgh to be Home to Massive Movie Production Effort (Lebanon: real estate, apartments)

[CaptainPittsburgh]

The article seems hastily written, but this is pretty exciting stuff. From PPG:

The best film and video production facility for movies outside Southern California will reside in Pittsburgh with the collaboration of a Strip District production studio, Carnegie Mellon University's entertainment technology program, Paramount Studio Group and the company that produced the digital imagery in the movie "Avatar," organizers say.

In the partnership announced today, CMU's Entertainment Technology Center will remain based on the Monongahela River, but students will take courses and create projects at 31st Street Studios. A major attraction for the students will be the Knight Vision technology used in "Avatar," which will be only the second system of its kind in the world.

In addition, Paramount on Location, which supplies movie-making gear to location film sites, will establish an eastern regional base at 31st Street Studios.

"Our idea from the beginning was to create the best facility of its type in the country," said Chris Breakwell, founder and chief executive officer of The 31st Street Studios in the Strip District. It occupies a former steel plant on the Allegheny River.

The collaboration is "a great coming together of forces," said actor Anthony Daniels, a visiting professor at CMU's Entertainment Technology Center, who is best known as C-3PO in the "Star Wars" movies.
"What it really means is jobs," Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald said.

Read more: Pittsburgh to be home to massive movie production effort

[globalburgh]

Take this news in conjunction with the tidbit in last week's Pop City:

//www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...tudio-pgh.html

[Yac]

23 COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC (yes, the yelling is intentional) deleted posts later I'd like to remind everybody to stay on topic.
Yac.

[algia]

If "Hollywood" camps here, then expect those $799k homes to be on the rise to match with their likings.

I am not sure this is "cool"! IMO

[BrianTH]

The income generated from these activities will help fund better local amenities that all of us can share, so generally it is a good thing to be attracting such industries.

However, one of the reasons industries like this are locating here is the cheap workspace, cheap housing (which means lower labor costs), and generally lower cost of doing business, which means more competitive pricing for their services. So if we let real estate prices spiral out of control, we will be killing the goose that is laying the golden eggs.

Of course nice apartments and workspace in places like The Strip are going to continue to command a premium--there is not much we can do about that. But we do need to be building lots more housing and workspace units in the Strip and in all sorts of neighborhoods like it, so we can keep the general supply high enough to keep prices reasonable.

[algia]

Try telling that to Realtors....
We can't seem to find a realtor that wants to help yet. So far we only encountered the ones who are only concerned with the # of zeros at the end of their commissions!

Also tell that to the people(=sellers) who are now going to think: "Ohh cool, the big $$$$$$$$$$ joints are in town, I can price my house $300k over what its worth, and they'll pay up cause they're used to it." That's what many sellers did in FL, and there was not even a movie studio moving in!!!

These are the people who together with the Hungry realtors will screw up this market too IF allowed. So, I think we should be careful of what we wish for PGH.

Last night "My First Place" on HGTV was in Sewickley...two nights before it was in Mt Lebanon...which reminds me of an older thread here where someone was questioning the show "Income Property" who said PGH is "too cheap"!!! That guy probably didn't visit Mt. Lebanon...cause if he did, he wouldn't have made that comment.

It would be nice if this was "JUST Business", and it will "JUST" bring new jobs etc., but I am afraid that with THIS kind of company "comes great responsibility" on the citizens not go NUTS, and destroy this city too!

Originally Posted by BrianTH

One of the reasons industries like this are locating here is the cheap housing and generally lower cost of living, which means lower labor costs. So if we let home prices spiral out of control, we will be killing the goose that is laying the golden egg.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by algia

If "Hollywood" camps here, then expect those $799k homes to be on the rise to match with their likings.

I am not sure this is "cool"! IMO

Oh good god, is there any positive news about Pittsburgh that someone on this board can't turn into a negative? Seriously, I don't think that Brad and Angelina are going to be pricing a house in Fox Chapel any time soon. It's all going to be technical folks living here and working at the studio; the "talent" will fly in for their scenes and fly back when they're done.

[algia]

"I" Hope they won't. Not trying to be negative here, but there are always two sides (& Side effects) to every story.

Originally Posted by GeneW

Oh good god, is there any positive news about Pittsburgh that someone on this board can't turn into a negative? Seriously, I don't think that Brad and Angelina are going to be pricing a house in Fox Chapel any time soon. It's all going to be technical folks living here and working at the studio; the "talent" will fly in for their scenes and fly back when they're done.

[WILWRadio]

I sent this information to a friend in the Portland, OR area. He's in the movie making industry and he and his wife have grown tired of the west coast attitude. He is interested in western PA and is starting to make some contacts in the area in this industry. Thanks for posting this info.

[BrianTH]

This isn't the first entity bringing higher-paying jobs to the area, and while we have seen some appreciation and some gentrification, home prices haven't spiraled out of control yet. I'm not saying that is impossible, but I don't think it is automatic either.

In fact, a decent model for all this is the big Texas cities. Texas also has an abundance of existing housing supply thanks to the 1980s oil boom and bust, and they also make it relatively easy to add to the housing supply, and they also have mortgage regulations that discourage too much speculative investment.

So, even though those cities were adding a bunch of people and at least a good amount of higher-paying jobs, they mostly dodged the 2000s housing bubble (almost, but not quite, as much as Pittsburgh dodged it).