It is a great day for those who love music and museums, because the Motown Museum announced that they are getting a giant upgrade.
The Motown Museum will be expanding by 50,000 square feet at a cost of roughly $50 million.
If you’re worried about the original Hitsville U.S.A. house on West Grand Boulevard, don’t be. The expansion will be built around the existing museum.
“Our goal is to bring an expanded Motown Museum to the world, to inspire dreams and serve as an educational resource for global and local communities while creating an international mecca of music and entertainment history,” said Robin R. Terry Chairman and CEO of the Motown Museum. “This expanded facility will be an exhilarating national and international tourist destination which will allow us to narrate and celebrate on a much larger scale what the Motown legacy is recognized for: unmatched creative genius that transcends every barrier imaginable by bringing people together from all walks of life to share in that unmistakeable Motown Sound.”
So what can we expect from the new expansion? The plans are to have interactive exhibits, a state of the art performance theater, recording studios, more retail options for visitors, and meeting spaces.
This expansion will help to bolster the surrounding area that has already been seeing more development lately. The new Third and Grand Apartment is expected to be completed in 2017. The Marble Bar opened last October as a live music venue, after being vacant since 2010. Both of these are located within a few blocks of the Motown Museum.
The original Motown Museum is already one of the most popular tourist destinations in Michigan. This expansion will help increase the amount of people who want to come to Detroit for vacation.
“The Motown Museum brings thousands of visitors to Detroit each year to see the historic place where this internationally celebrated story was born,” said Larry Alexander, president and eco of Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. “These visitors stay in our great hotels, eat at our diverse selection of restaurants and experience the other incredible attractions that Detroit and Southeast Michigan offers. This exciting expansion will attract more visitors while further raising our region’s profile as a must-visit tourist destination.”
Detroit based Hamilton Anderson Associates will be the architect of record to complete the project. There have been multiple firms and architects working on the concept. The design firm Perkins and Will has been brought it to lead the design team. Perkins and Will was the firm that designed the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.
The completion date has yet to be set. But once we know we will be sure to update you.