This month’s edition of Louisiana Life magazine features an article about the on-going efforts of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development (along with the England Authority) to develop a state-of-the-art film production studio (as well as a medical business incubator) in the building formerly occupied by McKesson. From the article:
The development, supported by the state through a capital outlay award of $1.7 million for renovations, is the result of some creative thinking on the part of Alexandria’s officials and staff. The city is the leaser and purchaser of the building. It intends to sell the building to a management firm once businesses become solvent, thereby recouping taxpayer dollars. The television/film production and post-production studio will occupy 58,000 square feet of the building, leaving another 114,000 square feet for use by upwards of a dozen new businesses.
“There is no such studio located in central Louisiana to serve the state’s film industry,” says Bill Hess, Alexandria’s chief economic development officer. “We are getting a lot of television and film companies coming here but after they finish shooting they have to return to either Shreveport or New Orleans to complete their editing.”
Hess said the city is also working with the England Authority at the England Airpark for the use of land as a back lot. The airbase closed in 1992.
“Louisiana is No. 3 in the country for attracting film production and we believe a studio located here is needed,” Hess says.
Christopher Stelly, executive director of Film and Television for the state Office of Entertainment Industry Development, says the state is excited about the Alexandria regional effort to attract the entertainment industry, for it marks the next step in the further growth of Louisiana’s film industry.
In addition to developing a production studio, the City (along with other groups) have pro-actively recruited film and television projects to Central Louisiana. A few months ago, city officials traveled to Santa Monica to attend a film trade show, and because of the trip, the City is now pursuing over 350 “soft leads” and more than 150 “hard leads;” currently, they are working on between 8-12 projects at a time.
But just to clarify: This does not mean the City of Alexandria is (itself) getting into the movie business; the facilities would be rented out on a revolving basis to companies interested in filming and producing both motion picture and television projects. As our neighbors in Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and New Orleans can attest, major projects can employ dozens, if not hundreds, of people; the economic impact can be tremendous.
The article also mentions the other prospective tenants:
Sharing the building with the studio will be an outpatient clinic operated by St. Mary’s Residential Training School, a nationally recognized treatment facility for mental retardation and autism. In addition, two fledgling medical device companies will be locating manufacturing facilities at the site: Life Recovery Systems, creators of a ThermoSuit System that induces rapid patient cooling for protection of the heart and brain and Manchac Technologies, designers of a portable pharmaceutical dispenser.
“One of our primary industries is medical. Alexandria serves a nine-parish area. A medical business incubator will permit businesses to work along with the related industry,” Hess says.
Included in the development are classrooms for use by Louisiana Community and Technology College nursing students. Hess says, “We have also been in touch with Louisiana State University at Alexandria.”
“We are very much interested in this concept,” says Thomas Armstrong, Louisiana State University at Alexandria vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. “We are interested in connecting students to the community.”
“We [Alexandria] have a very entrepreneurial-minded mayor [Jacques Roy] who is vested in infrastructure and seeks to connect with higher education. All of this is central to long range success,” Armstrong says.
The building begins accepting tenants this spring.
CenLamar 