Knickpoint Ventures held a topping-off ceremony Monday for The Fields Studios, what the company bills as Chicago’s first purpose-built film studio, at the former Marshall Field’s warehouse campus on the Northwest Side. The developer bought the site in 2018 and plans to complete construction and open nine soundstages, along with creative and production offices, by early next year.
Zain Koita, the company’s founder and managing partner, said the 21-acre site at 4000 W. Diversey Ave. in the Avondale neighborhood, built in 1928 but closed by Macy’s in 2008, will once again provide thousands of high-paying jobs.
“This has always been an economic driver of the neighborhood, except for the past 10 years, and our goal was to return it to that state,” he said. “The film industry is generally unionized from top to bottom, and that’s great for Chicago.”
Read the Full Article: Developer transforming Northwest Side’s Marshall Field’s complex into Chicago’s latest film studio
