ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s big news for New Mexico. NBCUniversal announced Friday it’s building a studio in Albuquerque. It comes just months after Netflix announced it’s making New Mexico home.
The future TV and film studios will be inside a now empty warehouse in Martineztown near Broadway and Odelia.
“New Mexico is on a roll and if you’re not here investing, you better get here fast,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said.
The governor helped make the big announcement Friday. She says Garcia Realty Group, the City of Albuquerque, and the State of New Mexico have secured a $1.1 billion deal with NBCUniversal.
They’ve already started converting a former liquor warehouse into a fully functioning film studio. It’s expected to be ready to go in just a few months.
Part of the deal includes a goal for the company to spent $500 million on productions in New Mexico over the next 10 years.
“It’s going to help define the opportunities for our children. It’s going to help define the opportunities to bring back those who have left,” Mayor Tim Keller said.
The studio is expected to create roughly 800 jobs right off the bat, and help retrain the state’s workforce by creating an industry teaching program with CNM.
The businesses will be exempt from the annual tax cap. NBC says that kind of commitment to the industry made it easy to invest here.
While the studio isn’t finished, NBCUniversal is already filming in the state in other locations. One production, a crime series called “Briar Patch” begins filming Monday.
This is the second big company to plant roots here. Netflix recently bought out Albuquerque Studios for its TV and film productions. It’s agreed to spend $1 billion on productions over the next 10 years.
