Motown Museum expansion rolls on, construction to begin on new building
Detroit — Construction on the Motown Museum’s latest expansion — a brand new building set to open by summer 2026 that will include immersive exhibitions, a theater and more — will begin later this month, officials announced at a press conference Monday morning.
The museum has raised $70 million for the $75 million project and is ready to begin. The new 40,000-square-foot building will sit on a now-empty lot directly behind the museum’s three current buildings on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit’s New Center area.
The museum was founded by Esther Gordy Edwards, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy’s sister, in 1985. The museum is located in the home that served as Hitsville U.S.A.’s original headquarters and music recording studio, where everyone from Smokey Robinson to The Supremes recorded.
“This expansion is going to celebrate those heroes, both sung and unsung, who were a part of the Motown story,” said Robin Terry, Esther Gordy Edwards’ granddaughter and Motown Museum chairwoman and CEO.
The museum first announced its plans in 2016 to expand its footprint to nearly 50,000 square feet. The new building will feature a gold exterior and lobby because it is “rich with culture,” Terry said, as well as interactive exhibits, a performance theater, recording studios, an expanded retail experience, and a cafe.
Museum officials revealed the first renderings of the new building’s interior Monday morning. The lobby will feature gold walls with images of some of the record label’s “larger than life” icons hanging from above.
“You step into that space and between retail and our theater and these beautiful images and music, you know you have arrived at Motown — that’s the goal,” Terry said.
When the expansion is completed, the Motown Museum’s campus will consist of the original Hitsville U.S.A. home; Hitsville NEXT; the new, 40,000-square-foot building; and an outdoor plaza with a stage, finished in 2022, connecting them all. The expansion’s lobby will traverse the length of the new building.
“This is the lobby that visitors from around the world will step into to begin this new Motown museum experience,” Terry said. “Imagine that this is music. You step into the space and there’s music, and you’re just enveloped in these giants who have created a music legacy that we all still celebrate.”
The expansion will also include a cafe in tribute to Lily Hart, better known as Miss Lily to members of the Motown family, who cooked in the kitchen at Hitsville.
“She prepared hot dogs, her famous chili and chicken for all the acts and they’d sit up there in Berry Gordy’s apartment, and they’d wait for Miss Lily to provide their food,” Terry said. “We have to honor Miss Lily, because this museum is going to be about the voices of those who actually created this history.”
The new building is the third phase of the museum’s expansion plan. Phases one and two involved creating Hitsville NEXT, a hub for community-focused engagement programs, in renovated homes around the original Hitsville USA as well as a new outdoor plaza.
The expansion will feature two immersive exhibits announced last fall, “The Motown Atmosphere,” and “The Backstage Lounge.” The project was originally projected to cost $55 million but inflated to $65 million last year and is now locked in at $75 million, Terry said Monday.
Levi Stubbs III, son of the late Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs, said he was born the same year as his father’s first big hit came out and grew up around Motown Records. He now sits on the museum’s board of trustees.
“With this expansion, I don’t think that we realize what this is going to do, not only for the city but for this community here that Motown has supported since its inception,” Stubbs said. “When someone says, ‘put on some Motown,’ you know what it means. It’s a feeling that you just get from the music that uplifts. It talks about culture. It just talks about our city. It’s something for us to be proud of, and this is just an expansion of that.”
North Carolina-based firm Perkins and Will is leading the expansion’s design planning. All project had cost escalations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zena Howard, Principal and Global Cultural and Civic Practice Chair at Perkins and Will, said.
Detroit-based Brinker construction group will be building the expansion.
“You’ll see that we mobilized on site, and over the coming months, you’ll continue to see trades mobilize,” said Larry Brinker, Chief Executive Officer of Brinker. “Steel completion is scheduled for early spring of 2025, which is a major milestone that will give real shape to the museum structure.”
The Motown family suffered a “significant loss” with the death of Tito Jackson on Sunday, and a moment of silence was held for him at Monday’s event, Terry said. Jackson, 70, was a member of the Jackson 5 pop group.
“You can’t not speak to one of the greatest groups to ever come through the Motown assembly line,” Terry said.
The latest expansion comes just weeks after the Motown Museum campus hosted a visitation in August for Duke Fakir, the last remaining original member of the Four Tops, who died in July.
Terry said the expansion will ensure the legacies of these “musical giants” continue.
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