THE BRONX — Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. plans to announce that a new film studio will come to Soundview and propose a new green buildings fund in his State of the Borough speech Thursday, sources said.
The studio comes from the company York Studios and would be located on an 11-acre site in Soundview, where the business would film material for movies and television.
The green buildings fund would be used to speed up the process of making large residential buildings more environmentally friendly, which should help reduce energy costs and keep the city affordable, according to Diaz's office.
Diaz also plans on using the speech to tout the borough's roughly 5 percent drop in unemployment since 2009 and the almost two million square feet of new office and medical space coming to The Bronx over the next few years, which should lead to several new jobs.
The speech should also include a discussion of how the borough is working with local schools to make sure their curriculums align with the demands of the job market.
Diaz also intends to highlight the Osborne Association's recent takeover of the shuttered Fulton Correctional Facility, which the group will work to transform into a community reentry center, as well as the opportunity for the borough to create thousands of housing units, new waterfront space and new park space along the Harlem River.
Diaz will deliver his speech at 10 a.m. on Feb. 19 on 200 Baychester Ave. at the Mall at Bay Plaza. He has previously used his State of the Borough address to call for a revised admissions process to top borough schools, Metro-North expansion and a new gun-crime registry.
