West Orange Film Studio: The Planned 12-Acre Campus, Explained

West Orange is the birthplace of the movie industry: Thomas Edison built the Black Maria, widely called the world's first movie studio, right in town. That history makes the planned film production campus behind the Edison Lofts such a good fit. The project has been moving through approvals since 2024, and it is worth checking in on exactly where it stands in 2026, because the answer is "planned but not yet built," which matters for anyone watching the neighborhood's future.

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What is being proposed?

Developer Matrix Development Group has been driving a film production studio proposal on a roughly 12-acre site in West Orange's Film Services Overlay District, adjacent to Thomas Edison National Historical Park. The campus would replace an area of dated commercial and office buildings near downtown. The headline numbers:

• About 300,000 square feet of studio space (estimates range from 150,000 to 350,000 square feet depending on the milestone report)
• Three to six production stages of roughly 20,000 to 30,000 square feet each, with office and support space
• Parking for 200 to 400 cars and space for 30 to 60 production trucks
• Roughly 300 to 600 new full-time jobs, per the township's projections, plus construction jobs during the build

The township council approved the zoning concept in April 2024 and voted in September 2024 to approve Matrix's purchase of the site and a corridor to downtown, backed by roughly $10 million in township infrastructure investment.

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Where the project stands now

As of this update, the studio remains in the planning and development phase. Construction has not started, and no studio operating partner or opening target has been publicly announced. That is normal for a project of this scale, but it is worth being clear about: the film campus is not yet a "coming soon" store with a date on it. The land deal and approvals are in place, and the next milestone to watch is an operating partner and a construction start.

This fits West Orange's broader plan. The town earned a "Film Ready" designation to draw production work, and the site sits in the same district as Edison Lofts, the historic renovation that sold for $131 million in 2026. The studio would deepen that creative-industry cluster rather than replace it.

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What it means for homeowners and buyers

• This is a reason-to-watch story, not an imminent change. Buyers moving to West Orange should not treat a future studio as a done deal that changes prices tomorrow. Treat it as potential upside: more demand, more jobs, and more activity near downtown, if and when it lands.
• Jobs and foot traffic would help the downtown. A few hundred production jobs means people working, dining, and shopping in town during the day, the kind of demand that supports Main Street retail and the walkability buyers WANT.
• Watch for traffic and trucking. Production trucks are big. If the studio builds out, neighbors near the site will likely see more trucks and more parking pressure in the short term, and the township will shape mitigation planning as part of the approvals.

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The bottom line

West Orange's film studio is a real, approved, ambitious project that has not started construction yet. For sellers and buyers, it is one more reason the walkable, creative, transit-friendly character of West Orange keeps drawing attention, and the studio gives the downtown another long-term anchor if it gets built. I will keep this page updated as the developer makes announcements, because this is exactly the kind of story that quietly shifts a neighborhood once a timeline appears.

If you are looking in West Orange and want to understand how a future project like this fits your plan, I am happy to walk through it, no pressure.