FOREST PARK, Ga. — In 2011, the Ft. Gillem Army Base closed, moving thousands of people and jobs out of Forest Park. But now those 1,200 acres of land are finding new life as warehouse space, and coming soon– new sound stages for the film industry.
The project will transform 53 acres of the old base into the BlueStar Studio's campus with 18 different sound stages.
"That would make the business boom!" Adnally Otis said, who works at a gas station near the old base.
"More business and more people coming in, and more profits," Otis said.
Currently, the 600,000-square-foot facility is under construction, with land being leveled to construct the sound stages, and technology being built in from the ground up.
"They want to uplink dailies back to LA or New York, this connectivity allows them to do that seamlessly," BlueStar Studio CEO Rich Goldberg said.
Goldberg said they picked Forest Park for the tax incentives in Georgia, and the proximity to the airport and Atlanta.
"Ninety-plus percent of the jobs are for local Atlantans, there's crew here- thousands of people who work in the industry," Goldberg said.
Forest Park Mayor Angelyne Butler said the base's closing had a devastating effect on housing and their economy, but thankfully, warehouses have filled much of the space.
Other parts of the base are being used as distribution centers and warehouses for companies like Amazon, Boeing, Cummins and Kroger.
Butler said these studios will bring even more business and prosperity back to Forest Park, adding to what she calls a "resurgence" for their whole community.
"Now that this life is being given back to Forest Park they understand they're going to thrive as well...I'm a firm believer of if you build it, they will come," she said.
Goldberg said they will restore the old base headquarters as office space, and the steam room will become a cafe, as a nod to the old, with an eye toward the future.
The first sound stages are set to open at the end of next summer. BlueStar said they'll start courting studios to film here in the next few months.
