Albany

Call it StockadeWood.

A California-based company wants to establish a $68 million film and TV studio on the site of the former American Locomotive plant in downtown Schenectady, according to documents released Tuesday by state officials.

Dubbed Mohawk River Studios, the 200,000-square-foot building would contain a five sound stages for film or television production as well as a visitors center. It will take up 10 of the site's 60 acres; the Rotterdam-based Galesi Group also is working to develop a hotel, apartments and stores there.

The $15 million subsidy for the project was listed by the Capital Region Economic Development Council in its annual progress report and funding request. In all, the council is requesting $96.2 million for 85 priority projects in an eight-county region.

Mohawk River Studios, the largest proposal, "will be perfectly situated to leverage existing community partnerships while building new collaborations across academia, the private sector and government to make the Capital Region a destination of choice," according to a project description. "It would make the Capital District one of the primary filmmaking capitals of America," said Don Rittner, head of the Schenectady Film Commission. "In New York City, it's very expensive to shoot. The costs here are much lower. A studio will obviously bring in a lot of talent, and a lot of peripheral talent including post-production. It could be a really big economic boost to the area."

The Electric City has increased its efforts to become a filmmakers' destination: "The Place Beyond the Pines," a Ryan Gosling-Bradley Cooper drama, shot in and around Schenectady during the summer of 2011. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, too, has pushed for tax credits to lure production and post-production to upstate areas.

The Capital Region is competing with nine other councils around the state for a slice of $220 million in tax credits and grants, but the requests also taps a larger pool of regular state infrastructure spending that the councils now have a say in directing.

Overall, there were 337 applications for state funding, and another 100 requests that the council designate a project or initiative as a priority. Eighty-five projects made that cut, including Mohawk River Studios and a host of other redevelopment projects, many of which are aimed at revitalizing urban areas around the region.

The co-chairmen of the council, Albany Medical Center President Jim Barba and Robert Jones, president of the University at Albany, this year invited anyone to participate in the council's working groups.

The report was posted online without fanfare, or any accompanying meeting, event or statement. Both Barba and Jones declined to be interviewed.

The Capital Region has not been awarded any competitive funding in the two years since Cuomo appointed 10 regional councils in areas around the state.

This year's wish list contains more than the local council requested in 2012, when it sought a total of $204 million for 255 projects, or $55 million for its 105 designated priorities. It was awarded $50.3 million, the least of any region.

State officials also didn't award the Capital Region any bonus funding in 2011.

This year, the council had to develop an "opportunity agenda," where state resources will be focused to develop a specific neighborhood facing joblessness and poverty.

It selected the city of Albany to coordinate the agenda, with the hope that its efforts could eventually be replicated in Troy and Schenectady.

And the council is supporting the Trinity Institution's request for state funding to build a culinary arts lab and classroom at the Capital South Campus Center, which is under construction along Morton Avenue in the city's South End. "This is about affording people who are living in high-density public housing neighborhoods greater access to higher education," said Trinity CEO Harris Oberlander. "It's very exciting."

The council also announced plans to build a business incubator at SUNY's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, which will draw on $5 million in seed money from the state over the next five years.

State officials said they would announce winners during a ceremony in December.

jvielkind@timesunion.com • 518-454-5081 • @JimmyVielkind