SANTA FE, July 27, 2023 – The City of Santa Fe Governing Body has unanimously approved entering into an Exclusive Negotiated Agreement (ENA) with Midtown Santa Fe Productions, Inc., led by PE Real Estate Holdings, to redevelop, expand and operate the existing Garson film production studios as a competitive, modern studio facility. The Exclusive Negotiated Agreement (ENA) is the second step after the issuing of the RFP, which aimed to support the expansion of regional, national and international productions at Santa Fe’s Midtown.
The developer’s proposal calls for merging Garson Studios with the adjacent Midtown Santa Fe Production Studio, formerly Shellaberger Tennis Center. The new combined studios will encompass almost 20 acres and immediately become the largest studio in northern New Mexico, featuring 6 soundstages, including two of the largest in the Southwest, and nearly 180,000 square feet of production and support space across 5 different buildings. Using a "Studio Village" model, the film production facilities will be mixed-use to serve crews and visitors with various amenities, and open spaces to attract and serve international, national, and regional movie and television makers.
"This transformative project is an absolute game changer to bolster Santa Fe's film industry and contribute to this remarkable city’s cultural and economic growth for generations," said Mayor Alan Webber. "We intentionally set out to create the arts, cultural, and entertainment foundation for the future of Midtown with this development, along with the reuse of the Midtown Visual Arts Center and the Garson Theater and Performing Arts Center. Our objective, as public partners, is to facilitate these projects with skilled private partners early in the redevelopment of Midtown to create the vibrancy and dynamic mix of uses that will foster a thriving 24/7 community that will attract creative developers to build on this momentum."
Beyond its economic impact in Santa Fe, the proposal aims to cultivate and nurture local talent through a collaborative education and job training program with Santa Fe Community College and UNM Film Schools, as well as with Santa Fe’s Stagecoach Foundation, providing local high school seniors and junior college students with a practical and professional career path through on-the-job training and education located on the studio campus.
"This expansion opportunity creates Northern New Mexico’s largest film studio with an innovative mixed-use, live-work 'Studio Village', and a training program focused on nurturing local talent, entrepreneurship, and career development," said Rich Brown, Community Development Department Director. "The union of these two local production studios provides a new level of exposure for Santa Fe’s growing film and television production industry to attract much larger productions from all over the world to diversify our economy, create more job opportunities and drive more money into Santa Fe businesses."
The new studio will create a wide array of new permanent jobs, bring nearly $100 million of real estate and construction investment to Santa Fe, and generate billions of dollars in film production spending over time. It will also deliver substantial new recurring real estate tax revenue for the city by monetizing underutilized real estate assets.
In keeping with the Midtown Community Development Plan vision, PE Real Estate Holdings is also committed to sustainability including adaptive reuse, solar farming, solar carports, Level 3 EV car charging hubs for the community, rainwater recapture, and community bicycle sharing, among others.
"We look forward to working collaboratively with the community and the City of Santa Fe on this exciting new development to bring new opportunities in film and tv productions, jobs and careers, as well as public programming," said Phillip Gesue, owner of Midtown Santa Fe Productions, LLC and lead developer of PE Real Estate Holdings.
The City plans to release additional RFPs in the coming months to develop residential and mixed-use projects with parcel developers and master developers, and always encourages local entrepreneurs and businesses to submit proposals.
Announcements of proposals selected for the Midtown Visual Arts Center and the Midtown Performing Arts Center redevelopment, pursuant to the RFPs issued in December 2022, are anticipated in late fall. For access to updates and Midtown RFPs, please visit: midtowndistrictsantafe.org
Film In Santa Fe & New Mexico
The film industry is one of the fastest growing economic powerhouses in New Mexico with $5.75 billion in production spending. This year, Santa Fe was named the number one small city to live and work in film for North America, Canada and Mexico by MovieMaker Magazine.
Since 2016, the Santa Fe Film Office has brought over $1 billion in economic impact to the Santa Fe region and supports hundreds of local businesses. And, over the last five years, Garson Studio has produced film and TV features for Netflix, Amazon, Nickelodeon, Paramount, MGM/EPIX and CWTV.