![]() ![]() Hogan, Lagunitas Brewing founder Tony Magee, production cast, crews and other leaders. Coli, IATSE local 476 Business Manager Mark A. (24th), Teamsters President of Joint Council 25 John T. The Mirkopoulos Family, including nephew Alex Pissios, president of Cinescape, were on hand for the ceremony, along with former Gov. So it is only fitting for our City to recognize Nick’s contributions today with this street dedication.” ~ Deputy Mayor Steve Koch “ Nick Mirkopoulos had a vision for the film and TV production sector of the City of Chicago, and we owe him a great debt. Deputy Mayor Steve Koch presided over the dedication, on October 22,2015. The City of Chicago dedicated a stretch of South Rockwell Street which runs through the studio’s campus in honor of the late Cinescape founder. COURTESY PRNewsFoto/Cinespace Film Studios Inc. He died there in 2013.įamily members of the late Nick Mirkopoulos, founder of Cinespace Film Studios, celebrate the City of Chicago’s street dedication in Nick’s honor on the Cinespace Chicago studio campus. Mirkopoulos had been battling a terminal illness, and went back to his birthplace to see family. ![]() He built up a successful empire, and the fruits of his labor were shared among his philanthropic endeavors, including the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, York University’s Faculty of Fine Arts, DePaul University’s School of Cinema, the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv and the Ark of the World children’s charity of Greece, in addition to a number of hospitals. Among the productions filmed at the studio, are TV shows like Empire, Chicago PD, Chicago Fire and feature films such as Batman IV, and Divergent.Ĭinespace Toronto and Cinespace Chicago make up the largest private studio in North America. Cinespace Chicago is a film studio that includes 22 stages and eight production office suites. In 2011, Mirkopoulos acquired the Ryerson Steel complex in Chicago, and orchestrated the redevelopment of the massive 50-acre industrial site into a bustling film production campus. He’d later develop three further studio complexes in Toronto including Marine Terminal 28, where Oscar best picture winner “Chicago” was filmed. ![]() It was first large-scale film production studio facility in Canada, and remains the largest film studio in the country. There, he was a successful contractor before opening the first Cinespace Film Studios in Toronto, Canada in 1988. Seeking adventure and opportunity,” he made his way from Greece to Canada. Nick Mirkopoulos was born in Kalohori, Kastoria, Greece in 1942. Productions will have the ability to move from a Chinatown setting to the streets of London without ever having to leave Chicago.A stretch of South Rockwell Street was renamed in honor of the late Nick Mirkopoulos, visionary and founder of Cinespace Film Studios. ![]() In fact, Cinespace continues to expand and even has plans to build streetscapes similar to those on the film Lots in Hollywood. As the film and television industry change to keep up with content demand for streaming services, new productions from Amazon Studios Netflix and other Independent films are working on Productions, pilots, and more right here in Chicago. Television Productions such asChicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med, Empire, Lovecraft, Shameless, and more call Cinespace Chicago home base. Remebered lovingly by everyone at Cinespace as “Uncle Nick,” Nick Mirkopoulos, who started Cinespace in Toronto 20 years ago, worked with Pissios to establish Cinespace Chicago Film Studios in 2011 in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. That conversation not only changed the life of Pissios, but it also led to the creation of more than 15,000 jobs and has put Chicago back on the map in the film industry. What began with the former Ryerson Steel plant and just one building, is now a one and a half million square-foot development with 32 sound stages and related television and film production businesses and nonprofits.Īfter having lost almost everything in the real estate market in 2007, Alex Pissios never imagined that a conversation with a distant relative during a family event would change the course of his life. Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, soon to be the largest independent film studio in the country, after expansion is completed in Little Village, is where some of the most exciting programs on television are produced. ![]()
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