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May 8, 2023

Lights, Camera … Action star’s ambitious New Haven movie studio plan stalls

PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Actor Michael Jai White showcased his company's digital video technology at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce's Big Connect event in 2021.
By Liese Klein

From movie shoots on Chapel Street to celebrity sightings at Wooster Square pizzerias, any glimpse of Hollywood in the New Haven area tends to make headlines.

But few red-carpet entrances in recent years could match that of Michael Jai White, the action star who had a vision of building a major movie studio on River Street in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood.

“I want to say how proud I am for coming back home and bringing you a new venture with Jaigantic,” White said, speaking with New Haven Biz in August 2021.

Raised in Bridgeport, White said he hoped to bring film industry opportunity and well-paying jobs to underserved young people in southern Connecticut through the efforts of his namesake company, Jaigantic Studios.

Jaigantic’s plans for Fair Haven were widescreen in their scope: A complex of 25 soundstages and an array of production facilities, starting with a 50,000-square-foot building to be constructed on city-owned land at 46-56 River St. The project was projected to cost $200 million and employ thousands of people when complete.

While the New Haven studio was under construction, production would ramp up in a leased building in Shelton, where Jaigantic had built out several soundstages and installed mammoth video screens to serve as backdrops.

Whether it was leading tours of Fair Haven or showcasing digital-video screens at a major Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce event, White and his Jaigantic Studios team had many business and civic leaders anticipating the economic impact from White’s New Haven plan, with a groundbreaking announced for spring 2022.

Photo | Liese Klein
The section of New Haven's Fair Haven neighborhood eyed for a $200 million movie studio complex was still blighted and vacant as of last month.

But the stretch of River Street where Jaigantic planned its “Creators District” remained mostly desolate last month, with stretches of empty land and graffiti-scarred buildings. The area was quiet except for distant traffic and some birdsong.

A similar silence reigned at Jaigantic’s headquarters in Shelton, an industrial building at 10 Constitution Blvd. On a weekday late last month, when the studio was listed online as open, not a single car was in the parking lot, all doors were locked and lights were turned off.

Officials at nearby Shelton City Hall said that recent emails to Jaigantic had received no response. Staff at the diner across the street said that studio officials used to hold meetings there but hadn’t been seen for months.

Jaigantic Studios did not respond to repeated requests for comment, nor did the company’s Shelton landlord, OD Realty LLC of Easton.

Most of the executives who took part in Jaigantic’s 2021-22 media blitz have since left the company, according to reporting by the New Haven Independent.

White himself remains active promoting upcoming film projects on social media, although his last Tweet with the #Jaigantic hashtag was posted in November of last year. Jaigantic’s website outlining its New Haven plans remained live as of last month, emblazoned with its tagline, “Where Heroes Rise.”

‘Boots on the ground’

Jaigantic executives first came up with the New Haven studio plan in 2020, and “put their boots on the ground during the height of the pandemic,” according to the company website. White first announced the project on social media in March 2021.

The first outreach to residents came in June of that year, with a presentation by Jaigantic to the Fair Haven Community Management team. That was followed by meetings with local lawmakers and tours of the proposed site, with the media invited to tag along.

The studio project would be funded with government grants and tax breaks, Jaigantic executives told lawmakers at the time.

Even though many city and community leaders were enthusiastic, Jaigantic’s plan sparked controversy from the start when the movie studio was blamed for popular craft beer-maker New England Brewing pulling back on a plan to move to Fair Haven. (The brewery opted instead to move to waterfront property in West Haven, although Jimmie’s restaurant and the Land Trust of West Haven filed to block the move in September.)

In August 2021, Jaigantic hosted a gala party in Shelton for the region’s arts community to outline its plan, complete with a Tinseltown-style step-and-repeat photo opportunity and a teaser trailer projected on a huge screen.

By then, the company had begun official discussions with the city of New Haven on a development agreement for city-owned property at 46/56 River and 112 Chapel, having signed a memorandum of understanding earlier that year to make its interest official.

Jaigantic promotional efforts came to a climax in November 2021, with a show-stopping presentation at the Big Connect, the annual business expo of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. White appeared in person to showcase the studio’s high-def video technology and spoke as the keynote before hundreds of business leaders.

“The idea of bringing this industry back, of trying to shoot a movie here, was always in my mind,” White told the Chamber audience, speaking of his childhood dream to offer opportunities to area young people. Jaigantic still planned to break ground on phase one of the Fair Haven studio in spring 2022, he added.

But details on funding remained scarce, with the website stating that “company founders, executive team and private equity” would pony up money to get the project started.

Jackie Buster, then acting as spokesperson for Jaigantic, said that the studio project would go before the city planning officials in January 2022, but that date passed with no further developments.

In a March 2022 presentation to New Haven’s Development Commission, Jaigantic officials said they had raised only $23 million for the project, adding that $85 million in seed funding plus $52 million in a Series A capital raise were both in progress.

City officials said at the time they were close to finalizing a development and land disposition agreement (DLDA) with Jaigantic, but the company’s memorandum of understanding expired in March with no deal in place.

Then came months of infrequent communication, then silence, said City Deputy Economic Development Administrator Steve Fontana, who had been working with the studio

“We reached out to them in September and December and we received these very short, cryptic responses,” Fontana said.

Focus on Fair Haven progress

City officials spent some time and resources on the studio proposal but have been more focused on the overall redevelopment of Fair Haven’s long-blighted industrial corridor, Fontana said.

Recent activity in the area include Armada Brewing, which opened in April 2022, and the announced expansion of manufacturing company Art To Frames, which plans to build a new warehouse and add jobs on Chapel Street.

In addition, the former Phoenix Press property at 15 James St., is in the process of turning over for another industrial use, Fontana said.

Nearby, in Fair Haven’s retail corridor, plans recently advanced to convert the former Strong School to affordable housing.

Even without Jaigantic, the River Street area represents an increasingly scarce resource in New Haven – vacant property zoned for industry, Fontana said.

“It’s a crucial part of the city – there’s so little remaining industrial commercial land,” he said.

Inquiries come in on a regular basis from companies seeking industrial property, he said.

Without a current agreement in place, the city property at 46-56 River St. that Jaigantic was eyeing for the studio complex is up for grabs, Fontana said.

“I think at this point we’re entertaining interest,” Fontana said. “So, if people are interested they should feel free to contact us.”

New Haven’s brush with Hollywood glamour may have come up short for now, but perhaps White himself had the best argument for optimism about Fair Haven’s prospects.

“Making the transition from good to great often happens in times of uncertainty or unforeseen change,” White said in advance of the 2021 chamber event. “That’s when strength and resilience meet preparation to expose new opportunities for success.”

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