Labor activists launched a public campaign to reopen the mothballed Toronto Film Studios facility, to ease a chronic shortage of downtown production space. Bob Hall, president of IATSE Local 873, told reporters gathered outside the locked TFS gates that property owner Rose Corp. and partner SmartCentres should ‘do the right thing’ and reopen the 16 soundstages. TFS closed after Rose opened its Filmport studio in 2008. The partner companies were recently denied an application to build a retail mall on the downtown site.

Besides launching an online petition, organizers of the ‘Open 629’ campaign hope to meet with Toronto Mayor David Miller and Rose to back their call for reopening the site at 629 Eastern Avenue.

Rose executives are not speaking publicly about their next move, but it is understood that the main player is TFS managing partner SmartCentres, which is appealing the recent rezoning decision.

Former TFS executives also dispute claims by the Open 629 campaign that the studio can be reopened by simply unlocking the gates. The facility was emptied and prepared for demolition before its closure, and would require significant investment before it could be reopened.