Motown Museum announces Phase 3 of expansion

The next phase of the museum's expansion includes a new performance theater, recording studio and interactive exhibits.

Motown Museum is continuing its expansion and has announced plans for a new phase of the development of the Detroit facility.

The museum revealed it is going forward with Phase 3 of its growth plan as part of an incremental $55 million expansion project to increase the facility to a 50,000-square-foot tourist destination for education and entertainment.

The museum unveiled a video of its photo renderings of the additions.

Phase 3 includes building a professional recording studio, interactive exhibits, retail space, classrooms, meeting spaces and a state-of-the-art performance theater named the Ford Motor Company Theater. It will be built around the current museum campus.

Phase 2 of the expansion was completed last month. A public event commemorated and announced the reopening of the museum after a year of closure, according to The Detroit News. The event featured appearances by Motown legends such as Smokey Robinson, The Temptations founder Otis Williams, Martha Reeves and Duke Fakir of The Four Tops.

The public may take “abbreviated” tours of the museum, and full tours are scheduled to start Oct. 1, The Detroit News reported.

The first two phases focused on the heart of the renovation — Hitsville NEXT, a restoration of the original Hitsville USA building that housed the original Tamla Motown label and the four adjacent homes on West Grand Boulevard. It also included a new outdoor plaza called the Rocket Plaza.

Esther Gordy Edwards, a former Motown Records executive and sister to Motown founder Berry Gordy, founded Motown Museum in 1985. The museum commemorates the artists and contributions Motown Records, Gordy, and the label’s artists have made to music and American culture.

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