Netflix broke ground in May 2025 on a $1.2 billion production campus at the former Fort Monmouth Army Base, a move local officials and developers say is already accelerating a real-estate and commercial revival along New Jersey’s Monmouth County shore.
The studio, planned on a 300-acre site spanning Oceanport and Eatontown, will include 12 soundstages totaling roughly 500,000 square feet, along with supporting facilities and employee amenities. Netflix executives at the groundbreaking said the project is expected to create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity, and the company has estimated the complex will bolster the region’s creative economy when it opens in 2028.
The announcement has coincided with a steep rise in local property values that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Countywide median home values in Monmouth County rose from about $328,662 in 2019 to roughly $745,389, according to Zillow figures cited by local real-estate agents. Luxury condominium sales in the county also have accelerated: developers report condo contracts over $1 million were up 51 percent year‑over‑year between July 2024 and July 2025.
At the center of the market shift is the Atlantic Club Residences, a two-tower oceanfront condominium complex on Long Branch’s Ocean Avenue, about a 10-minute drive from the planned studio site. The building will have 132 units ranging from one- to five-bedroom residences, including two penthouses, with prices reported between $1.2 million and $6.5 million and unit sizes from roughly 2,000 to 4,000 square feet. Amenities include a heated pool, a high-end gym and more than 75,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor common areas designed for year-round use.
"With this groundbreaking, we're not only building a studio, we're also strengthening our ties with the community," Netflix Chief Executive Ted Sarandos said at the ground-breaking ceremony, adding that the company had contributed an estimated $125 billion to the U.S. economy over the prior four years and hired more than 140,000 cast and crew members nationwide. Sarandos also noted Netflix's intention to hire locally for production and related jobs.
Teresa Minnick, director of sales at the Atlantic Club Residences, said buyers have been attracted by a combination of ocean access and improved commuting options to Manhattan, and by the prospect of local career opportunities tied to the studio. "You get everything here," Minnick said, describing the area as more than a seasonal resort and predicting the building will draw filmmakers, executives and investors connected to the streaming business. She said more than 40 percent of the units had been sold within weeks of construction starting, mostly to locals and Manhattan commuters.
Developers and local businesses are already adjusting offerings to cater to new demand. Minnick and other merchants pointed to recent openings of boutiques, upscale restaurants and specialty food shops near Long Branch and nearby towns. One newly opened restaurant cited by a sales official offers a menu that includes a $17 warm burrata and roasted peaches appetizer, a shift she said signals changing consumer expectations.
Lennar Corp. and other developers have begun building townhouse projects at Fort Monmouth in anticipation of population growth tied to the studio. Retail hubs and shopping centers in the surrounding towns are also undergoing change: The Grove in Shrewsbury has attracted national apparel and home goods chains, and the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown is slated for a major redevelopment.
Monmouth County's shoreline has historic ties to the late 19th- and early 20th-century Gilded Age, when wealthy industrialists and cultural elites built mansions along so-called Millionaire's Row. Some of those estates survive, and the area served as a summer destination for figures including members of the Guggenheim family and the actor John Barrymore, whose family is part of the shore’s social-history lore. The HBO series The Gilded Age has dramatized that era of concentrated wealth and social display, and local boosters are using the association as part of marketing for the present-day revival.
Netflix has taken steps to integrate with the local community ahead of production, including hiring local food trucks for a Veterans Day event in 2024 and conducting local outreach during preconstruction work. Company officials have forecast that the complex will not only house production but serve as a cultural and economic anchor for the county.
Town officials and planners have said the municipalities expected to see the most immediate benefit include Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, Red Bank and Colts Neck. Economic impacts the company and local leaders cite include increased employment in production and hospitality, higher demand for housing, and greater retail and dining activity.
The Fort Monmouth campus follows a broader trend of major studios and streamers expanding production outside Los Angeles and New York City. Local officials said the project will require infrastructure and workforce investments, and they are coordinating approvals and planning to accommodate construction and long-term operation. Netflix has estimated the site will be fully operational in 2028, though officials cautioned that timelines for large studio projects can change.
For residents and developers in Monmouth County, the arrival of the studio represents a potential reorientation of the shore from a seasonal resort economy to a year-round, entertainment-driven market. Real-estate agents, developers and local businesses say evidence of that shift is already visible in rising home prices, renewed investment in retail and new construction underway near the former base.
"A lot of these owners took a chance and it will pay off," Minnick said, describing business owners who opened ahead of the studio’s official launch. Local leaders said they will monitor the project’s effects on housing affordability and municipal services as the region adapts to the expected influx of workers and visitors associated with large-scale production.