GOWANUS — More than 2,000 people — including actor Zach Braff — are calling on federal officials to halt a Gowanus Canal cleanup plan that could close the TV studio where the Russian spy series "The Americans" is filmed.
Supporters of Eastern Effects studio have flooded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with letters protesting a proposal that could close the studio's 270 Nevins St. building, where the FX drama starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys is filmed.
Actor Zach Braff said on Facebook and Twitter that "filmmakers, New Yorkers, and anyone who cares about the lil guy getting phucked over" should take an interest in Eastern Effects' plight. Hollywood heavy hitters including Fox21 Television Studios (which owns FX), the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America have all told the EPA to back off the film studio.
SAG's New York executive director Jeffrey P. Bennett told the EPA in a letter that losing Eastern Effects "will send ripples through our industry by signaling that productions are not welcome in New York City."
The EPA is considering a plan that would use eminent domain to seize Eastern Effects' leased building at 270 Nevins St. and turn the property into a staging area for the construction of an underground sewage tank nearby.
The tank is a critical part of the EPA's $506 million Superfund cleanup of the heavily polluted canal. It will keep raw sewage from flowing into the waterway and re-polluting it in the years to come. The city is responsible for building the tank, but has sparred with the EPA for years over where the tank should go.
The two agencies announced in April that they had reached an agreement to build the tank on private property on Nevins and Butler streets. The agreement, which will be finalized after public comment, was good news for the Gowanus Canal cleanup, but a potential disaster for Eastern Effects, according to the company's founder and president Scott Levy.
Scott Levy, founder and president of Eastern Effects, is trying to convince federal and city officials not to shut down his 270 Nevins St. film studio. Photo by Kyle McGroary.
Levy signed a 20-year lease in 2009 at 270 Nevins St. and he's sunk $5 million into turning the building into a state-of-the-art soundstage. With 52 scripted series now shooting in New York, Levy says he gets daily calls from productions hunting for studio space. When "The Americans" is shooting, the studio employs more than 200 people in "well-paid" jobs, Levy said.
► RELATED: 8 Things You Didn't Know About Shooting 'The Americans' in New York City
Losing the building would destroy all that he's built, Levy said. In addition to 270 Nevins, Eastern Effects uses several other Gowanus buildings for "The Americans," but Levy said the buildings function as a unified campus and that losing the Nevins Street site would spell the end of his entire operation.
"I am hopeful that the [city] now understands the importance of keeping this business and our studio open," Levy told DNAinfo New York. "It's taking jobs away from the film and TV industry and it doesn't make any sense."
Levy said there are at least three other properties nearby that could just as easily serve as staging areas for the construction of the sewage tank and that the other options would be cheaper for the city to acquire.
He laid out his arguments in a letter to the EPA and the city and asked supporters to do the same. More than 2,000 people sent letters using a template on the Eastern Effects website during a public comment period that ended May 31.
In addition to fans of "The Americans," a host of neighborhood groups and officials have rallied behind Eastern Effects. State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, City Councilman Stephen Levin, the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, Gowanus Conservancy and several other local organizations have written on behalf of the studio.
The EPA is expected to announce its final decision on sewage tank plan "soon," a spokesman for the agency told DNAinfo New York.
Levy noted that he's worked in the Gowanus area since 1999, when he started Eastern Effects on Third Avenue and Dean Street before moving to Douglass Street in 2006.
"We’ve been directly on the canal for 10 years and we're really happy there's progress being made for the cleanup," Levy said. "We're happy to support that process in any way we can, we just prefer to be here to watch it all happen."
