Beam lifted into place to complete building’s steel structure
The Motown Museum achieved a crucial expansion benchmark Thursday, Nov. 13, as an abundantly autographed beam was lifted into place to complete the building’s steel structure.
The afternoon topping-off ceremony included Motown alumni such as Paul Riser, Pat Cosby, Cal Street and Miller London, along with architects, designers, Gordy family members and Detroit community partners. In signing the steel beam, they literally left their mark on the long-awaited new space rising behind the historic Hitsville, U.S.A.
A construction worker helps put the final steel beam into place during an event celebrating the Motown Museum expansion in Detroit on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.
As the Free Press reported last month, the two-story, 40,000-square-foot complex will be named the Motown Experience and will include exhibit space, interactive attractions, a theater and more. Work is scheduled to be completed in October 2026, with a grand opening expected in spring 2027.
“This is an incredibly significant milestone in our construction,” Motown Museum chairwoman Robin Terry told the Free Press. “We’ve been on a journey to get our campus complete and get the Motown Experience to the community.”
For museum officials, Thursday’s event was an important and gratifying step, thrusting the nine-year expansion process from the realm of “what if” into reality. The $75 million project was announced in October 2016, and fundraising has reached the $72 million mark.
Among the nearly 100 people who lent their signatures to the girder Thursday were former U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and museum donors, while the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP’s Detroit branch, delivered a blessing.
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Robin Terry, chair of the Motown Museum, smiles as she signs a ceremonial steel beam during an event celebrating the museum’s ongoing expansion on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.
“People are overwhelmed by the opportunity to put their thumbprint on this building that means so much, not just to them personally but to the world,” said Terry. “They will forever be connected to the Motown Experience representing this legacy.”
In her remarks Thursday, Terry described the expansion as an embodiment of her family’s Motown vision. The chairwoman is the grandniece of company founder Berry Gordy, while her grandmother, Esther Gordy Edwards, founded the museum at Motown’s original West Grand Boulevard site.
“He dreamed of opportunity,” Terry said. “She made sure that his dream and his work would never fade, and the world would have a place to celebrate the musical and entrepreneurial legacy that broke barriers and forever changed American history.”
The new two-story, 40,000-square-foot complex will be named the Motown Experience and will include exhibit space, interactive attractions, a theater and more.
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Motown Museum expansion moves forward as final steel beam installed
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