--This article originally appeared on September 10, 2009Michigan is a car state. Always has been, always will be. Er, well, maybe not "always will be." As the auto industry struggles, a new form of business is securing a foothold here. In fact, movie production is filling some of the factories vacated by the auto industry.
Excerpt:
Linden Nelson, 49, chief executive of Nelson Ventures, a private investment company, has started Michigan Motion Picture Studios, doing business as Raleigh Michigan Studios, for $75.8 million. Mr. Nelson, who will be the chief executive of the studio, has formed partnerships with entities controlled by A. Alfred Taubman, the shopping center executive and former chairman of Sotheby's; Raleigh Studios, a large independent film studio in Los Angeles; Walbridge, a private construction company; and William Morris Endeavor, the powerful talent agency.
After looking at about 100 abandoned buildings, including an airplane hangar, the Pontiac Silverdome (the former home of the Detroit Lions football team) and vacant auto plants, Mr. Nelson and his partners chose a location within a former General Motors complex in Pontiac. The 22-acre site is surrounded by silent parking lots, barren sidewalks and rarely traveled roads.
The three-story, 369,000-square-foot building was built in 1999 for $55 million, and 3,000 G.M. truck and bus engineers once worked there. Raleigh's goal is for a similar number of people to be employed at a range of film industry jobs.
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