By Sunayana Prabhu
FORT MONMOUTH – The streaming giant is moving rapidly toward its targeted completion of 2028 on the former U.S. Army base. Netflix teams installed the final structural beams on soundstages 3 and 4 with a “topping off ceremony” June 23 to mark the gradual transformation of the former Fort Monmouth mega parcel into a global production hub.
When complete, the Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth campus will feature 12 soundstages totaling nearly 500,000 square feet on the Eatontown and Oceanport sections of the former Army installation. The Oceanport section, known as Phase 1A will house four soundstages and is targeted for completion by next summer. The Eatontown section, Phase 1B, will include eight soundstages and be completed by fall 2028.
“We are going to change New Jersey forever within this fantastic facility,” said Vincent Ryan, executive vice president at JT Magen, the general contractor on the project, during the ceremony. JT Magen also built the Netflix Studios Albuquerque in New Mexico.
Kenneth Falcon, Netflix’s director of enterprise operations, joined Ryan and Michael Connaughton, project manager for JT Magen, along with hundreds of construction crew members, to mark the milestone with a beam-signing ceremony.
Officials made clear that the “major milestone” belonged to the construction teams who worked through a harsh winter to maintain an aggressive timeline for the redevelopment.
Netflix purchased 292 acres of the total 1,200 acres of the Fort Monmouth property in 2022 and broke ground in 2025.
“We started demolition in May of 2025. We started site work in December of 2025,” Connaughton said. “So, our first buildings went vertical in March of this year.”
Soundstages 1 and 2 are 20,000 square feet each; their exterior shells are already built up, but the interiors are still being worked on. Soundstages 3 and 4 are both 36,000 square feet, Connaughton said, while sharing the crews’ progress.
“We hand over everything (to Netflix) in Phase 1A on the Oceanport side by the middle of next year,” he said. Work will then shift to the Eatontown side of the property, stretching from Wilson Avenue to Route 35. That portion “will get handed over to Netflix middle of 2028,” he said. Connaughton, who is a Fair Haven resident, also worked on Netflix’s New Mexico site.
Netflix has said it plans to invest roughly $1 billion in its overall Fort Monmouth production campus.
The construction process itself is expected to generate nearly “4,000 construction jobs,” Falcon said. He noted that Netflix has also partnered with film and television industry unions, such as IATSE Local 798, the make-up artists and hair stylists’ union, and IATSE Local 600, the camera and publicists’ union, to train New Jersey residents for production careers from on-set crafts to office-based production roles.
In terms of sustainability, the construction project at Fort Monmouth has diverted about 80% of construction waste from landfills, more than 55,000 tons of material, according to Netflix.
While construction continues at Fort Monmouth, Netflix has filmed more than 20 productions in New Jersey, including in the Two River area, such as “Big Mistakes,” “The Beast in Me,” “Happy Gilmore 2,” and “Rabbit, Rabbit,” among others.
“Netflix is looking forward to shooting next summer here in the Oceanport campus,” Oceanport Mayor Thomas Tvirdik revealed during the Tuesday event. “It’s really good to see that economic boost that we’ve needed around here,” he added, noting the early economic ripple effects as businesses reinvest in their storefronts to meet potential demands.
Eatontown’s Mayor Anthony Talerico Jr. said he expects a strong working relationship with Netflix as construction soon moves into his town’s section of the site. He said Eatontown is using a state grant to upgrade roads and sidewalks and to encourage facade improvements downtown ahead of the studio’s long-term presence.
The article originally appeared in the June 25 – July 1, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
