A new Albuquerque production campus is nearing completion as New Mexico’s film business works to recover from a sharp decline in activity. uStudio Pictures is developing The Lot on the former General Electric site in the South Valley, with a reported $13 million investment and Sony virtual-production technology among its planned features, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
The campus plan includes a 50,000-square-foot prop house and a 47,000-square-foot complex with offices, post-production space and two sound stages. The stages are designed for large LED screens that display digital environments and adjust to camera movement, allowing crews to film against virtual settings. The Journal reported that construction began in 2023 and was expected to finish by year-end; the schedule and the productions the facility will ultimately attract remain uncertain.
More capacity, fewer productions
The scale of the investment contrasts with the contraction in statewide production. New Mexico welcomed 112 film projects in fiscal 2022, with reported production spending of $855 million. By fiscal 2026, the project count was down 28% to 80 and spending had fallen 62% to $327 million, according to the New Mexico Film Office.
The latest figures also show a limited stabilization: spending was roughly level with fiscal 2025’s $323 million, the first year-over-year increase in four years, and 81 productions accessed the state incentive program, up from 76. Those statewide measures do not show how much work The Lot will secure. The film office identifies the availability of quality production spaces, including soundstages and post-production facilities, as an industry challenge—a need the campus is intended to address.
A commitment is not a production tally
uStudio was named a New Mexico Film Office partner under an arrangement requiring it to bring an average of $50 million in filming to the state annually over 10 years, KRQE reported. The arrangement also includes additional incentives in exchange for commitments to workforce development and promotion of New Mexico film. The annual figure is a target; it does not establish how much production spending has occurred or will occur.
New Mexico has seen another major studio commitment before. In 2018, Netflix announced a plan to bring $1 billion in production to the state over 10 years while pursuing a production hub in Albuquerque. Six years later, Netflix described an expanded Albuquerque facility with four new soundstages and other production facilities across 108 acres. The company’s announcement of a spending plan is not evidence that the target was met, and its expansion does not establish what work The Lot will draw, according to Netflix’s 2018 announcement and its account of the later expansion.
The Lot’s combination of stages, production support and virtual environments is a bet on capacity at a time when New Mexico’s production spending remains well below its recent peak. Whether the facility and uStudio’s partnership commitment translate into sustained local work will depend on productions actually choosing the state; the available figures describe the market and the commitments, not that outcome.
