Paul's Lumber and Supply in Bloomfield is just one of many local businesses benefitting from "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises." (Credit: KDKA)

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Now that production for “The Dark Knight Rises” has started in the city of Pittsburgh, it’s creating an economic boom.

From lumber yards providing lumber for the sets, to hotel rooms for the stars and some of the crews, production means big bucks for the city.

“We talk about job creation, this will create hundreds if not thousands of local jobs,” Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said. “It’s going to be great for the economy and the exposure that Pittsburgh’s going to receive will be significant.”

The jobs aren’t just production related. There are the obvious ones – building sets, driving trucks and extras on set.

But then there are the not-so-obvious ones like area hotels that see a jump in business because of the movies that in turn hire more people.

“We will have four full-time housekeepers working for the rest of the summer,” Barbara McMahon, of the Renaissance Hotel, said. “What does that mean? That means that these four people will be working full-time. They will be eligible for insurance and not only that, they will be spending the money in the community.”

In Bloomfield, at Paul’s Lumber and Supply, they’ve been working on set pieces for weeks. They understand during the next for weeks, there will be phones and orders to stay one step ahead of set needs. That translates into dollars.

“It’s an ongoing thing which provides business for us and a lot of other companies in Pittsburgh at a time when there isn’t a whole lot – the economy hasn’t been very good in the last number of years,” Paul Meyers said.

Because this is the biggest production to come to Pittsburgh, no one knows for sure what the final dollar amount is going to be when the tab is added up.

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