Detroit Music Hall today announced a $122-million expansion project to be built on a surface parking lot it owns immediately west of its main theater complex.
The new seven-story, 100,000-square-foot facility, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects in New York, will be located at the southeast corner of Madison and Randolph streets.
The goal of the project, part of a 2023 feasibility study, is to make the Music Hall campus a more central and accessible hub for music programming, production, education, and connectivity.
The new facility will feature a state-of-the-art concert hall, a recital hall, recording and practice studios, leasable office space for industry professionals, and a public welcome center offering box office access to arts and cultural programming across the city.
With a projected opening in the fall of 2026, the new expansion is a response to growing demand for music programming and timed to drive demand for an authentic Detroit music experience, along with driving regional and global tourism.
“The expansion will welcome the world to Detroit,” says Vince Paul, president and artistic director of Music Hall, built in 1928.
“Through this new development, we honor our musical legends and create opportunity for the music legends of tomorrow. This portal to the people not only engages our community, but will encourage tourists from all over the world to visit and celebrate their musical heroes.”
The expansion will embrace Detroit’s vibrant musical lineage and act as a canvas to express the energy and creativity for which the city is globally recognized. While cities like Cleveland and Nashville have touted themselves as the nation’s top musical capitals, they don’t compare to Detroit’s vast history of genres, including jazz, pop, rock, rap, hip-hop, R&B, electronic music, blues, soul, Motown, and more.
Drawing inspiration from Detroit’s contrasting urban vitality from day to night, the building’s exterior will include a perforated metal rainscreen/sunscreen adorned with shimmering metallic accents that together express the liveliness, movement, and play of performance.
The exterior textures and materials are meant to reflect natural light by day, and will be illuminated at night by customizable, colorful, low light LEDs.
At the heart of the building is a 24,000-square-foot concert venue that extends the capacity of the existing Music Hall by 1,900 seats. In addition, the new Music Hall Center will feature an 1,800-square-foot, 200-seat flex-use recital hall.
Clad in sculptural wood panels and filled with diffused natural light through an enlarged window looking west, this double-height room is a dedicated space for dance, acoustic, and amplified performances, lectures, and an array of other programs.
The building’s design will be crowned by a chamfered floating canopy, cantilevered over the sidewalks and alleyway and casting light upon the levels below. Enclosed aerial walkways will bridge the gap between the historic Music Hall and the new Music Hall Center — physically and symbolically connecting the rich legacy of the original building to the visionary new structure.
A redesigned 4,000-square-foot alley between the two buildings will become part of the new urban fabric of the city, activated by outdoor seating, areas for public performances and art installations, and spaces for the community to gather, day and night.
Fulfilling its educational promise to the community, Music Hall Center will house a world class music academy, ensuring the city’s continued prominence as a leading training ground for musicians, composers, and artists. The work builds upon Music Hall’s decades of service to Detroit students as a provider of performing arts instruction, with some 5,000 students currently enrolled.
On the top level of the new building, sheltered by three covered outdoor terraces along the building’s edges, visitors will enjoy a rooftop restaurant and views of the downtown skyline and the cultural corridor along Madison toward Grand Circus Park.
Funding for MHC is built on a base of $80 million in tax-exempt 501(c)3 bonds, issued by the Economic Development Corp., a public authority of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.
“For over a century, Music Hall has been a cultural pillar in Detroit. With its proposed expansion, it will educate future generations, nurture local talent, and host a variety of events,” says Lanard Ingram, director of public relations for the DEGC. “The expansion will also create construction and permanent jobs and possibly spur development in the surrounding area.”
The project is expected to create 446 new jobs, nearly a hundred new contracts for independent vendors, and more than 5,000 artist opportunities.
For more information and updates, visit musichallcenter.org.
