Lights, camera - and, finally - action?

After buying and demolishing 20 homes and businesses along Barton Street West for a proposed football stadium that was built elsewhere, the city appears to have found a coalition of film and production industry stakeholders to develop the bulldozed property.

Aeon Studio Group is expected to announce its plan to turn the west harbour into "an international hub for film, television and digital media production" at Bayfront Park Tuesday. The centrepiece of that plan is the development of a 15-acre "live-work-play community for the creative industries," the coalition said in a news release.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger and Ward 2 councillor Jason Farr will be on-site for the announcement, as will ASG partners Jeff Anders, Mike Bruce, Robbie David and Mark Sakomoto and other members of the coalition.

Court documents from early May showed a group known as "Hamilton Studios" wanted to purchase a Queen Street North property left from the 2017 Stelco restructuring deal for $3.95 million. The idea was to develop a film production complex at the nearly three-acre site - a project that would also include the neighbouring Barton-Tiffany lands.

Barry Gray | The Hamilton Spectator

A spokesperson said Friday ASG is a subsidiary of Hamilton Studios. It is not clear whether either site has been purchased.

During a council meeting in March, Farr said the project could bring between 500 and 2,000 jobs to town while Eisenberger later estimated a studio at the site would employ upwards of 1,000 people. "It really has the potential of some significant employment opportunities," the mayor added.

Farr has also said the production complex would be ringed with residentially zoned properties on Barton and Bay streets capable of hosting hundreds of housing units, depending on density. He declined to comment on the project Friday while Eisenberger did not respond to The Spectator's requests.

FilmOntario urged councillors at that March meeting to support the development, arguing it would create "high-paying, technologically innovative jobs." It also pointed out Toronto and Mississauga expected to benefit from an influx of film jobs, thanks to a major expansion in those cities by Netflix and CBS.

The film and related industries in Hamilton already support an estimated 9,400 jobs.

Judy Travis of Workforce Planning Hamilton is one of several local stakeholders consulting on the project and sees its potential, particularly for students and schools in the area. McMaster University and Mohawk College are also listed as coalition members.

"It's a real great next-generation workforce opportunity for our community," she said.

Hamilton has the third-largest "cluster" of film industry businesses in Canada, according to a recent profile of the creative industries sector.

It handed out at least 800 filming permits last year and its streets, buildings and landmarks are increasingly showcased in major productions, including "The Shape of Water," which won the 2018 Best Picture Oscar, and the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series, "The Handmaid's Tale."

tpecoskie@thespec.com

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