The abandoned military site Fort Gillem in Forest Park, Georgia, is being transformed into a new movie and TV studio called BlueStar.
BlueStar Studios, located at the former Fort Gillem army post in Forest Park, is one of many new TV and film studios built in the state.
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Rich Goldberg, CEO of BlueStar Studios, announced that the studio will begin taking in clients in 2023. The 18-stage facility is currently under construction and should be completed by summer 2023. This isn’t Goldberg’s first foray into the industry–he spent time working with Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta during the 1990s and was a founding member of DirecTV in Los Angeles. He recently worked with virtual reality startup Jaunt until they sold it to Verizon in 2019.
The BlueStar campus will have the 108,000-square-foot Fort Gillem headquarters building as its centerpiece. To maintain the architectural legacy of the former Army post, we will repurpose several historic buildings onsite.
The proximity of BlueStar to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport makes it appealing to many Hollywood types, as is the case with other nearby studios such as EUE Screen Gems, Atlanta Metro Studios, and Tyler Perry Studios.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday, Goldberg said the city of Forest Park and Clayton County have “welcomed us with open arms.”
Forest Park Mayor Angelyne Butler welcomed BlueStar’s arrival in a press release. “Fort Gillem has long been a significant presence in our community, so we’re thrilled to see such a transformational development through this substantial investment in a technology-forward way.”
BlueStar is investing $180 million in the construction of phase one of a studio development project originated by Atlanta-based Gala Media Capital, a Peachtree Group division.
Several production studios in the area are expanding, including EUE Screen Gems, Shadowbox Studios (formerly Blackhall Studios), and Three Ring Studios. Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, responsible for many Marvel and Disney+ films and series, also adds additional stages. In a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tyler Perry stated that he plans to add ten more stages at Tyler Perry Studios (located on the former Fort McPherson property). However, the expansion has been delayed due to temporary inflationary pressures.
We’re happy to announce that three new studios will be joining us soon, including Athena Studios in Athens, Assembly Studios in Doraville at the former General Motors assembly plant property, and Electric Owl Studios near the Indian Creek MARTA station.
The state currently has more than 60 purpose-built soundstages, with dozens more repurposed. If the planned new studios are completed, Georgia could see a stage capacity increase of over 100% in the next two years.
The new soundstages don’t bother Goldberg.
“I think there’s tremendous demand,” Goldberg said. Even though Vancouver, New York, and Los Angeles are expensive locations to film or televise in comparison with Atlanta, Moreno still believes it is cheaper here. Additionally, he states that even though other places like New Mexico want the business, they have fewer qualified workers.
Not only does he promise that his soundstages will be “state of the art with an emphasis on technology,” especially virtual reality.
Fort Gillem was a site of hope and anxiety for Clayton County for many years. The former Army post had served as an important logistics hub and economic driver for the county for about 70 years before it began to close in 2011 as part of the Pentagon’s 2005 restructuring process. This mothballing occurred just as Clayton was beginning to recover from the Great Recession, making Forest Park’s purchase of 1,170 acres of the base in 2012 for $30 million all the more poignant.
Since the city of Forest Park converted the old post into a corporate logistics hub, they have landed high-profile distribution centers by Kroger and other companies.
Some areas of the former Army base have had to be cleaned up because pollution from industrial solvents contaminated the groundwater nearby.
According to Goldberg, his company conducted an environmental study of the 53 acres they purchased and found “no issues whatsoever.”
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