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Greenpoint Wastewater Plant Now Plays Starring Role in Hollywood

By  Gwynne Hogan and Ben Fractenberg | January 25, 2016 10:22am | Updated on January 26, 2016 5:59pm

 An old control room and parts of the city's largest waste treatment facility was slated for demolition a decade ago. While it's no longer in use, it's become a sought-after location to shoot films and TV shows.
PHOTOS: Inside the City's Secret Greenpoint Movie Studio
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GREENPOINT — An old control room and industrial building inside the compound of the city's largest waste treatment facility was once slated for demolition.

But years later, the structure's still standing, though it has a much different use from the one it was originally intended for.

For the past several years, location scouts for movies and TV shows have used the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Facility's industrial corridors, courtyards and vintage control room as the setting for their productions.

The TV shows "The Americans" and "The Blacklist, and the film "Salt," starring Angelina Jolie, shot scenes on the site.

CBS's "The Good Wife," "Person of Interest" and "Blue Bloods" have also shot there, according to Mercedes Padilla, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Environmental Preservation, which runs the plant.

During one shoot of "The Blacklist," there were men dressed up as generals marching around the building, according to Zainool Ali, the plant's manager.

"The whole wall was covered with red stuff like they simulated blood," said Ali. "It was like a killing field."

"I never expected this when I got into the field of waste water, to be hosting TV shows," Ali said. "But you gotta do whatever is required."