The City of Chicago has named a street in honour of the late Nikolaos Mirkopoulos, who founded Cinespace Film Studios in 1988.

Initially opened in Toronto, Cinespace later took over Chicago’s Ryerson Steel complex in 2009 and built a 52-acre studio complex featuring 22 shooting stages and 8 production office suites, which now play host to the production of shows such as Fox’s Empire and NBCUniversal’s Chicago Fire.

Mirkopoulos, who passed away in December 2013, oversaw the opening of both the Toronto and Chicago studios. The Chicago industry in particular benefited from the new studio, taking Illinois production volumes from $25 million a year in 2009 to more than $350 Million in 2013.

Productions currently being shot in the Toronto studio are eOne’s The Code, FX’s The Strain and Hallmark’s Good Witch.