Just over 50 sound stages are planned for construction on a 320-acre site in southern Arizona.
The project belongs to the Desert Studios company, which has said that it plans to invest up to $900 million to build the development in the city of Buckeye.
The project, officially called the Desert Studios Complex, has largely been made possible as the result of a $125 million tax credit for film production passed last year by the Arizona State Legislature and signed into law by then-Governor Douglas Ducey.
As designed, that tax credit is supposed to be equal to anywhere from 15% to 20% of a movie studio’s production expenses. The new law also stipulates that to qualify for the tax credit, production companies must be operating out of a sound stage measuring no less than 10,000 square feet.
Desert Studios officials say the new sound stages will come in at around 40,000 square feet and will have the capability of being divided into two separate facilities of 20,000 square feet each depending upon the needs of a particular production.
Additional facilities at the Buckeye site will include a catering and craft services building, as well as structures devoted to post-production and editing and equipment rental.
The first phase construction of the studios project may launch in the latter part of this year.
By Garry Boulard
