Having failed in 2004 to build a megastudio on Toronto’s waterfront, Britain’s Pinewood Studios Group and local partner Castlepoint Development Group will now go ahead with the construction of a new five-soundstage complex in midtown Toronto, according to a weekend story in the Toronto Star.

A London-based Pinewood spokesman refused to comment on any ‘rumor or speculation’ surrounding the news report – which quoted unnamed sources – and Alfredo Romano, a prominent Toronto real-estate developer and principal of Castlepoint, did not return a phone call.

But the prospect of 100,000 square feet of new studio space on 2.3 hectares of land recently purchased by Castlepoint has enlivened Toronto studio operators. The location is reportedly at Bloor Street West and Landsdowne Avenue in the city’s west end.

‘Game on. I think it’s a fabulous thing for Toronto, because we have always said that FilmPort cannot be the silver bullet that can save the Toronto film industry,’ says Ken Ferguson, president of Toronto Film Studios, which earned the city of Toronto’s blessing to build FilmPort — the so-called megastudio in the city’s Port Lands area, scheduled to open in March 2008.

Jim Mirkopoulos, VP of facility management for Cinespace Film Studios, which recently closed its Marine Terminal 28 location as part of Toronto’s waterfront revitalization project, agreed that more high-end studios in the city would mean more choice for producers from Hollywood and abroad.

‘I hope it’s true,’ says Paul Bronfman, chairman and CEO of the Comweb Group, a major equipment and services supplier. ‘When you think about Toronto, really there’s a couple of purpose-built studios, but not on a scale to attract large American feature film.’

Combining FilmPort’s seven soundstages with five more from Pinewood/Castlepoint — in addition to existing spaces such as Showline Harbourside Studios’ three rooms — still does not add up to the 30 busy soundstages currently in Vancouver, Bronfman points out.

Of course, Pinewood’s presence in Toronto remains in the early stages. Castlepoint must obtain zoning permission and permits, in addition to snagging possible hand-outs from various levels of government.

But Toronto Economic Development Corporation president and CEO Jeff Steiner, while insisting he has no inside track on the new studio, welcomed it as proof studio development could take place anywhere in Toronto, not just on the waterfront.

‘The model for having different centers of film activity across the city is Los Angeles, which has five clusters,’ Steiner says.