A film studio under construction that will become the largest in the Northeast has been recognized for a major deal they struck last year as Bayonne has solidified itself as an emerging development hotspot.
1888 Studios recently received the 2026 Emerging Markets Deal of the Year award from NAIOP, the New Jersey chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. The award, presented at their 39th Annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala in Somerset, New Jersey, recognizes transactions that demonstrate exceptional creativity, complexity, and impact within New Jersey’s commercial real estate market.
Construction began last year on the project, which will transform 74 acres of land near the Bayonne Bridge into a 1.5-million-square-foot film production studio. President of Business Development, Flynn Busson, accepted the award on behalf of 1888 Studios and its partners.
“This award speaks to just how transformative 1888 Studios is, not only for New Jersey’s commercial real estate landscape, but for the future of film and television production in America,” said Busson. “We set out to build something the New Jersey market had never seen – a purpose-built campus of this scale, designed for movie makers by movie makers.”
The property, which had been a Texaco refinery that closed in the 1980’s, sits along the Kill Van Kull. Bayonne passed a rezoning plan for the land in 2020, and Jersey Digs was the first outlet to report on the studio plan back in 2022…