A conceptual rendering of a film studio proposed in Euclid. This graphic shows the administrative offices and one of the film/sound stages but three more stages are planned as additions to the right (Christopher A. Lobas & Associates). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
City to review studio plans next week
Getting ready for its close-up is a mid-sized film studio campus planned by an experienced filmmaker in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid. The goal for the filmmaker, Northeast Ohio native and Ingalls & Co. CEO James Ingalls II, is to transform Greater Cleveland into “a premier cinematic hub.”
Planned on 4.3 acres of nearly vacant land currently owned by The Costanzo Family Limited Partnership No.1 at approximately 1450 E. 219th St. is a 67,815-square-foot studio campus called Creative Spaces. The only infrastructure on the property is a railroad spur that is active only at the north end of it.
There, everything from movies, documentaries, commercials, short-form videos and content for stockholders and employees of major companies could be produced from idea to final release. And, as Ingalls touts on his Web site, those can be produced for less money here than in Atlanta, Chicago, New York or Los Angeles.
Proposed to be built is a small office building at the front of the property. Behind it would be four film/sound stages, each measuring 14,160 square feet, not including small bathrooms, showers, green rooms, control rooms and vestibules measuring in total about 740 square feet within each stage.
And, each stage will stand about 38 feet tall and be accessible by a pedestrian door plus a 20-foot-wide garage door. That will allow large sets and equipment to be moved in and out of each space, according to preliminary plans submitted to the city by architect Christopher A. Lobas & Associates of Parma.
The proposed 4.3-acre film studio campus would be located in suburban Euclid, just north of Euclid Avenue and between Chardon Avenue to the west and East 222nd Street to the east (MyPlace-CuyahogaCounty).
The development team is seeking a permit from the City of Euclid to build the studio campus. Plans for the project are on the docket of the next regular meeting of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, scheduled for 7 p.m. June 9.
Ingalls, who attended St. Ignatius High School, graduated from DePaul University with a BFA in Film & TV Production. He founded production company Ingalls & Co. which is the firm developing the studio campus in Euclid.
Previously, he worked for Emmy Award-winning production companies Spirit Juice Studios and Behold, where his projects earned Emmy award nominations in less than two years of his time there.
Additionally, Ingalls helped create video content for international brands such as Beam Suntory, Lennox International, the Emmy Awards, ISDA, and Knights of Columbus.
His experiences while shooting in Cinespace Studios Chicago’s sound stages provided Ingalls with the inspiration and insight into professional production facility operations that led him to seek the Creative Spaces studio campus here.
Site plan for the proposed film studio campus with East 219th Street at the right and north toward the top of the image (Christopher A. Lobas & Associates).
A text message left with Ingalls seeking comment and more information was not returned prior to publication of this article. But he described his plans on LinkedIn.
“The 4.32-acre campus in Euclid will deliver purpose-built filmmaking infrastructure meeting major studio standards, just 15 minutes from downtown Cleveland,” he said. “Each piece – software, facilities, workforce – strengthens Cleveland’s position as a serious filmmaking hub.”
The Greater Cleveland Film Commission has been in contact with Ingalls and, as with others seeking to develop production facilities here, it provided free advisory services. That can include updates on industry trends, best practices, and what stage specs studios and producers seek.
In full disclosure, the author of this NEOtrans article has a six-episode, true-story docudrama on a pivotal moment of the Cold War pending review by the film commission.
“The film community in Northeast Ohio is very tightly knit,” said Bill Garvey, president of the film commission. “James has attended our Quarterly Networking Mixers in the past and we spoke with him a few years ago when he first started.”
Looking north on East 219th Street, single-family homes are to the right and industrial-zoned land on which the film studio would rise is to the left (Google).
Garvey said Northeast Ohio boasts the best combination of veteran production crews, affordable production costs, equipment and prop rental houses, a wide range of stage infrastructure, and a diverse architecture and topography all within a short distance of each other.
“Before my current role at the film commission, I was a location manger and location scout who worked throughout the country from 26 years,” Garvey added. “I’ve worked everywhere else. That is why I know Northeast Ohio is a filmmaker’s Shangri La.”
“When they first approached me with this project last year, I performed a preliminary analysis and found that this activity fit perfectly in the U6-Industrial and Manufacturing District,” said J. Scott Muscatello, Euclid zoning commissioner.
“It is essentially offices in the front of the structure and warehouses in the rear — very similar to the vacant structure next door at 1500 E. 219th, and significantly more attractive – but we will leave the appearance of the proposed facility up to the Architectural Review Board to decide on that,” he said.
Floor plan for the film studios with four film/sound stages and, at right, the Creative Spaces administrative offices (Christopher A. Lobas & Associates).
“The City is very excited to have something of this nature located here” Muscatello added. “If I recall correctly, the owners stated that this will be one of, if not the largest, soundstage facility outside of New York, Chicago and Georgia.”
Although the zoning for the Creative Spaces site is an Industrial and Manufacturing District, it is located right across the street from a neighborhood of single-family homes.
The development team said the film studio will not be materially detrimental to the public welfare nor to the property of other persons located in the vicinity because “The facility will be quiet, sound-proofed, self-contained and visually pleasing,” the team said in its permit application.
South of the property is the vacated location of Ajax/CECO/Erie Press, a division of Park-Ohio Holdings. Before 2008, it was home for 81 years to copper tube manufacturer Linderme Tube Co. That property is for sale or lease.
To the north is Norfolk Southern’s bulk transfer rail yard and the railroad’s mainline between Chicago and Buffalo, NY which hosts more than a dozen freight trains per day. An at-grade crossing with Chardon Road is nearby, with westbound trains blowing their horns past the film studio’s site.
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