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A lease agreement was approved on Wednesday by the Bartlesville Development Authority that will help facilitate the filming of a major motion picture in neighboring Osage County.

The BDA approved a proposal to lease approximately 55,000-sqaure-feet of office space in the former Siemens facility to Apple Studios, LLC for use as movie production offices in the amount of $236,250 plus electric costs. The lease between the BDA and Apple Studios, LLC will begin on Monday, Nov. 30th and will last through Tuesday, Aug. 31st. The approved upon lease included a 90-day extension option. Wood said Apple Studios, LLC accepted the facility as is, meaning tenant improvements that are required will be at their expense.

BDA officials say it will be bringing an estimated $27 million in economic impact of Bartlesville. The BDA approved a nine-month lease of office space with Apple Studios LLC for use as their production office during filming of a major motion picture in Osage County. Under the working title "Gray Horse," Apple Studios, LLC will occupy the vacant three story office building adjacent to the former Siemens facility (pictured below).

During the BDA meeting on Wednesday morning, Wood said they had no immediate prospects for the office tower, so it was a perfect opportunity to utilize the space for the benefit of the community. As a result, Wood said they'll have far more production personnel based in Bartlesville filling local hotels, eating in local restaurants and shopping in local stores.

Under the terms of the lease, Apple Studios, LLC will have exclusive use of the 45,000-square-foot office building and approximately 10,000-square-feet of manufacturing area.

According to Visit Bartlesville Executive Director Maria Gus, the film production could mean an economic impact to Bartlesville of nearly $27 million to the community over the nine-month period. She said the production plan is to occupy 55,000 room nights in Bartlesville hotels over the next nine-months, which would mean that they're looking at a "visitor spend" of around $11.7 million with estimated sales tax collected to be a little over $450,000 and lodging tax at $197,000.

Gus added that that is an estimated impact of $26.9 million. She said this is a great injection into the economy of northeast Oklahoma that benefits places like Osage County, northern Washington County and Tulsa.

Gus said she believes this is the fourth time that a full-time movie production has officed and lived in the Bartlesville area. However, Gus said Bartlesville has seen several films being shot locally since 2010. She said the first film that was shot was "To the Wonder" by Terrence Malick, who has a strong tie and connection to Bartlesville.

Just in the last year, Gus said Bartlesville has had a short film filmed at the Kiddie Park. Gus said there was a film company that shot car chase scenes in Osage County two weeks ago and they used a spot in Bartlesville to stage their production vehicles. She said she believes there have been 20 to 25 films shot in Bartlesville with four of them being major productions.

Gus gives a lot of credit to Malick for the Bartlesville area's popularity in the movie production industry. Gus said it was important to Malick to return to Bartlesville when he was filming "To the Wonder." She said Malick brought with him impressive people from the film industry and that sparked Hollywood's continued interest in Bartlesville.

Bartlesville has built a great reputation in the film industry in Gus' eyes. Gus said they do their best to support the production companies that come to town in the best way that they can. She said they have to give a lot of credit to Malick for showing the potential beauty and hospitality that the community can give to the film industry.

Gus said she is looking forward to this opportunity. Gus said she hopes that the citizens of Bartlesville continue to be the great citizens they've been for previous productions. She said she knows the more small businesses can do to be more flexible and wear a mask, the more business they'll see.

The Bartlesville Development Authority acquired the near-dormant 160,000-square-foot facility last month for $1.75 million, leasing 20,000-sqaure-feet back to Siemens and retaining 18 Research & Development employees, as well as leasing an additional 40,000-square-feet of manufacturing space to Tritanium Labs, which is expected to create 100 jobs producing hand sanitizer and related products and pumps.

Wood said the projected economic impact will bring a welcome boost to local economy, but the lease arrangement itself won't result in much, if any, revenue. Wood said it really wasn't about the rent revenue for the BDA. He said they now need to fix the elevators immediately in the facility, and it'll probably cost about as much as the BDA receives in rent from the tenant.

That being said, Wood said the BDA captured a huge economic boost for the community and, at the close of this lease, they'll have an office building mechanically ready for a new, permanent tenant. He said the most important take away was the economic impact this lease agreement will have locally in a year that has been brutal for hotels, restaurants and businesses.