Netflix production hub incentive package clears first hurdle

A $4.5 million incentive package offered to Netflix for locating its new U.S. production hub in New Mexico has cleared its first hurdle.

The Albuquerque Development Commission voted unanimously Thursday to recommend that the City Council approve the deal. A vote could come next week.

Netflix announced this week that it chose Albuquerque and was negotiating to purchase a sprawling studio complex on the city’s southern edge that includes sound stages, offices and a back lot where it will produce original series and films.

It will mark the company’s first purchase of such a property. Work there and elsewhere around the state is expected to result in $1 billion in spending over the next decade.

Incentives also include an additional $10 million in economic development funding from the state.