Plymouth’s ‘Hollywood East’ to start construction soon
By Thomas Grillo
Boston Herald
September 25, 2009
Plymouth Rock Studios reached a milestone yesterday with a $550 million construction loan for its proposed $1 billion film, television and digital studio campus in Plymouth.
“This brings us much closer to developing the next generation studio in Plymouth,” said Plymouth Rock CEO Earl Lestz in a statement.
William Wynne, president of Plymouth Rock Real Estate Investment, called the loan a “giant step” toward getting construction started in November.
Prosperity International, a Florida-based firm, will serve as the lender.
Wynne dismissed skeptics who questioned the loan, which is coming at a time when few deals of this size have been approved.
“Prosperity has global institutional partners with capital north of $20 billion,” he said. “They’ve been in business for a long time and this type of financing is common in Europe. They looked at the fact that the entertainment business is recession-proof and one of the few growing industries.”
The project has received approval for its master site plan from the Plymouth Planning Board and has obtained a waiver from the secretary of Environmental Affairs to allow for an access road that will serve the studio and a neighboring public school.
But the complex still needs approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection and from Plymouth voters next month for the access road.
Upon completion in 2012, the complex will feature 14 soundstages and 10 acres of exterior sets.
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