Plans are quickly moving forward to develop a vacant industrial-zoned site in South Burnaby’s Big Bend industrial area into one of Metro Vancouver’s largest film and television production studios.
A newly submitted rezoning application by Bridge Studios seeks to turn the 18.5-acre site at 3990 Marine Way — the southwest corner of the intersection of Glenlyon Parkway and Marine Way, just west of Riverway Golf Course — into a state-of-the-art, purpose-built film and television production campus with two large buildings containing sound stages, and one smaller supporting building.
However, Bridge Studios’ application to the City of Burnaby is merely a technical formality, as the municipal government sold the City-owned property to Larco Investments, the parent company of Bridge Studios, in November 2021 for $136 million. The City selected Larco Investments following a competitive bidding process that sought a buyer to turn the site into a film and television production studio.
Site of 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (Google Maps)
Site plan of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
The new Bridge Studios facility will have a total floor area of 723,000 sq ft, including 16 sound stages totalling 316,000 sq ft.
The smallest sound stage will be relatively large in size at 17,764 ft, while four sound stages will be over 20,000 sq ft, including the largest at 27,756 sq ft. The two large buildings with sound stages reach a height of about 70 ft, creating tall ceiling heights that enable the flexibility and use of the spaces for complex, big-budget productions.
Artistic rendering of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
Artistic rendering of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
Supporting the production spaces will be 50,300 sq ft of mill shop space, 21,000 sq ft of costume space, 8,000 sq ft of prop space, and 66,600 sq ft of lighting and grip equipment storage space, as well as a 4,400 sq ft cafe, and 3,000 sq ft fitness gym.
The total floor area of the campus grows to 1.127 million sq ft when other support, utilities, and common area spaces are added to the calculation.
A single underground level will provide 1,003 vehicle parking stalls to support the workforce scale and flexibility required for film and television production operations. Larco previously stated this facility will generate over 1,000 on-site jobs.
Artistic rendering of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
Artistic rendering of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
Artistic rendering of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
Artistic rendering of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
This campus in the Big Bend is designed by CTA Architecture & Design, which also designed some of the latest expansions and upgrades to Bridge Studios’ existing 10-acre facility at 3880 Henning Drive (located on Boundary Road, near Lougheed Highway).
Larco also has two other film and television production studio projects in development in Burnaby. This includes a 19-acre site currently occupied by a large warehouse building at 3131 Lake City Way (next to SkyTrain Lake City Way Station), as well as a five-acre property at 7705 Griffiths Drive (next to SkyTrain’s Edmonds maintenance centre) that would see its self-storage structures demolished for a new purpose-built facility.
Site preparation ahead of major construction activities for Bridge Studios’ Lake City Way campus is well underway.
Burnaby is already home to over 60% of BC’s purpose-built sound stages.
Metro Vancouver is in need of significant new additional soundstages to support the growing interest by Hollywood and streaming services to make their film and television productions in the region. Without these spaces, the local industry will lose more work and jobs to production hubs in California, Ontario, Georgia, and New York.
Existing condition of 3990 Marine Way:
Site of 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (Google Maps)
Future condition of 3990 Marine Way:
Artistic rendering of Bridge Studios’ new film and television production campus at 3990 Marine Way, Burnaby. (CTA Architecture & Design/Bridge Studios)
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