Chicago & Midwest + Downtown + Industrial | April 23, 2021

Film and TV production revnues in Chicago and Illinois hit a record high of $630 million in 2021

Cinespace Plans 19 New Soundstages on West Side

Currently maxed out on capacity, the owner of Chicago’s booming Cinespace Chicago Film Studio hopes to increase the number of soundstages in the West Side facility nearly 50% by the end of the year.

Cinespace operator Alex Pissios told Crain’s Chicago Business the recent purchase of an empty industrial building at 19th and Rockwell, just southeast of his main campus, should allow him to add 15 to 19 new soundstages by the fall. The facilities could be used for films, but almost all Pissios’ business is in TV, both broadcast and streamed.

Cinespace now has 42 soundstages, both at its original Lawndale campus and a newer satellite in a former steel mill in Little Village. All have resumed production with safety protocols in place as the COVID-19 pandemic has eased.

“There’s such a demand for space, we’re actually turning away business,” Pissios told Crain’s. “They’re using everything we have now.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).