By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
Liverpool’s three-year ride on the Hollywood merry-go-round ground to an abrupt halt last week when a “for sale” sign appeared on the front lawn of the historic Zogg building at 800 Fourth St.
Director Jeremy Garelick’s movie company, American High, has produced seven feature films here since he bought the 91-year-old high-school building for an estimated $1 million in 2017 and dubbed it the Academy at Syracuse Studios.
While several of American High’s teen-oriented rom-coms have screened at prestigious festivals and found receptive audiences on video-on-demand streaming services, Garelick said that the high cost of complying with village and state codes prompted the decision to sell the building and its 6.9-acre lot.
American High movies made in Liverpool
Among the films American High produced in Liverpool are “Holly Slept Over,” “Banana Split,” “Looks That Kill,” “Big Time Adolescence,” “Sid Is Dead,” “The Binge” and “The Ultimate Playlist of Noise.”
Syracuse Studios also provided production services on “The Night House,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“Banana Split,” produced here by American High in 2018, premiered on Netflix streaming service during the last week in July and briefly shot up to the top 10 trending titles list. The romantic comedy, which stars Hannah Marks, Liana Liberto and Dylan Sprouse, was directed by 43-year-old Syracuse native Benjamin Kasulke.
“The Binge,” a comedy film directed by Jeremy Garelick and starring Vince Vaughn, will be released Friday, Aug. 28 on Hulu.
“The Binge” was shot over eight weeks in the Syracuse area last year with scenes at Onondaga Lake Parkway, Carnegie Library, Hanover Square, Clinton Square, a house on Cypress Street in Liverpool, Village Burger and the former A.V. Zogg Middle School.
“For the past two years, American High has poured money into the local economy, hired several people who live in the village and made significant improvements to the building,” Garelick told the Star-Review in an Aug. 13 email. “We love Liverpool (from The Retreat to Café [at] 407) and were very much on our way towards achieving our original vision for the school.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, “the requirements from the village to satisfy codes have proven way too confusing and cost prohibitive. I wish this wasn’t the case, but unfortunately, we now need to fulfill our vision in a different location.”
Liverpool’s deputy mayor, Trustee Christina Fadden, took issue with Garelick’s reasoning.
“For American High to state that safety requirements for the building have been confusing and appear to shift blame onto the village government, is disingenuous and unfair. Our codes department has worked exhaustively and tirelessly with Garelick and company to explain the safety needs, prioritize them, and repeatedly came up with staged plans to phase them in, including issuing multiple Temporary Certificates of Occupancy to bridge the gap based on agreed timelines. We have always taken the approach of finding a win-win for all involved.”
The most recent Temporary Certificate of Occupancy expired March 1, 2020, when sprinkler system work failed to commence, according to Village Codes Officer Bill Reagan.
Over the past three years, Reagan had attended no less than 22 meetings with representatives of American High including their architects. The architects were unable, Reagan said, “to find an inexpensive path to compliance with the New York State Building and Fire Codes.”
The main code hurdles had little to do with the approved film school, the codes officer said, but reflected American High’s desire to convert a portion of the building into a sound stage for use as a commercial film studio. “Of course, the neighborhood in which the building is located is not zoned for commercial use,” Reagan said, “but it is zoned for the school.”
Village trustees including Mayor Gary White are saddened by American High’s decision, Fadden said.
“They made this internal business decision without even consulting the village,” said the deputy mayor, “We are disappointed that Jeremy Garelick, the film school and American High have made the decision to move. We hope they may yet change their minds.”
But Garelick’s mind seems to be made up.
“Not only will Liverpool and the Zogg building be forever in our hearts,” he wrote, “it will forever be in our first eight movies. It’s a shame it won’t be in our next 20.”
Cushman-Wakefield, one of the area’s top commercial real-estate firms, is marketing the property. For information, call 315-445-1030.
