Wood River City Council Meeting
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WOOD RIVER – An esports arena and multiple film studios, known as “Hollywood River Studios,” are officially coming to the Wood River Business Park.
City Council members on Monday approved selling the property to Wood River Farm Investments LLC, which presented their ambitious plans last month for the site formerly known as the Envirotech Business Park.
The group’s approved offer of $1,000,000 for the full 105-acre site will see the installation of six film and sound production studios designed to cater to industry professionals. Wood River Farm Investments CEO Chris Breakwell said he expects the redeveloped business park to attract several jobs to the area.
“We have an exciting project, I believe, for the city of Wood River,” Breakwell said. “It’s building a TV and movie media complex in the old Envirotech site. Our goal is to build roughly six studios that are going to be able to be used for making movies and TV shows.
“You might ask, ‘Why Illinois?’ or ‘Why Wood River?’ For us, Illinois has an outstanding tax incentive for film-making … probably one of the best in the country,” he added. “We feel that the investment, which will be 50 to $60 million, will bring several hundred jobs to the area. Our goal is to help build out good-paying union jobs.”
Blackwell estimated that each production filmed at Hollywood River Studios would bring 300-500 jobs per show, with a current capacity for two shows being filmed at once. However, Blackwell also plans to expand beyond the six sound stages when and if these new studios prove successful.
He also cited Wood River High School’s esports program as a supporting factor in their plans for the esports arena: “Technology is driving making movies in the future, so esports lends itself to virtual reality and some of the other technology driving film-making needs,” he said. “You’ll see that drives a lot of the stuff with colleges and universities – I think we want to keep our kids here and we want to develop a long-term employment base.”
In Blackwell’s view, Southern Illinois and the Metro East region are “ripe” for opportunity in the film-making industry, making this an ideal investment to make in the region. He also sees an opportunity in “unshot” cities like Wood River, St. Louis and more to showcase the region’s beautiful, historic architecture which has gone mostly undiscovered by major Hollywood studios.
The project’s economic benefits were another focal point for Blackwell, who claimed the site would boost the city’s sales tax revenue and generate more for the local economy than it receives in state tax credits. Overall, he said job creation was his top priority for the new studios, which he sees standing for generations to come.
Hollywood River Studios are expected to break ground in January of 2026, with actual film production expected to begin in late 2026 or early 2027.
For more details behind the proposal for Hollywood River Studios, see this related story on Riverbender.com. A full recording of the July 7, 2025 Wood River City Council meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
