It's going to be the classiest, finest film studio in all of the world. Or at least that's what Donald Trump's company seems to think.
The Trump Organization has unveiled plans to incorporate an 800-acre studio city down near Homestead in the southern reaches of Miami-Dade County dubbed, what else, Trump Studio City.
Building a studio city near Homestead has long been a dream of County Commissioner Joe Martinez, who will run against County Mayor Carlos Gimenez in the next county elections.
"Back [in 2001] I thought that it was such a great idea that I thought I would just propose it to my colleagues and it would pass and people would flock here," Martinez said while unveiling the plan according to CBS Miami. "I've learned. I've matured. And I knew I had to get someone with a name."
That name is of course Trump, and Martinez said the idea started coming together shortly after the Trump Organization purchased the Doral Golf Resort and Spa last year.
According to Michael Cohen, a Trump Organization VP, the studio city would consist of studios ranging from 25,000 to 250,000 square feet and numerous backlots equipped to handle all types of television shows and movies. The city would also include a hotel, a magnet school for film and entertainment, and an airport. It would sit on 800 acres near the Homestead Air Reserve Base, and since the land is county-owned some commissioners are flirting with the idea of giving the land to Trump for free.
The Miami area has had some recent successes in luring television and film productions to the area. Michael Bay's Pain and Gain is currently filming here, and Rock of Ages filmed scenes between Miami and Broward last year. Production for Burn Notice still calls the Coconut Grove area home, and the quickly canceled ABC series Charlie's Angels filmed in a studio in Wynwood. The county is also home to productions for many Univision and Telemundo shows, but those networks already have their own studios. The in-production Iron Man 3 will also film scenes here later this summer.
But who's going to want to film in a studio down near the middle of nowhere and far, far away from the area's most iconic areas? We're not exactly sure.
The commission voted to further explore the idea. A county attorney will have 90 days to study the proposal. The appraiser's office will have 180 days to study the feasibility of such a plan.
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