DETROIT (WWJ) -- One of Detroit’s most well-known landmarks, known to music fans all around the globe, is getting a facelift.
The Motown Museum on Sunday unveiled renderings of a new, bustling outdoor plaza at the famous attraction on West Grand Boulevard in Hitsville, USA.
Construction on the new plaza begins this month and is expected to be completed by next summer.
Officials say the new plaza will “serve as a multipurpose community gathering place and welcome destination for Museum visitors, meant to inspire joy and creative collaboration.”
There will be regular performances by local talent, as well as unique opportunities for emerging entrepreneurs.
“The plaza is such an important part of our expansion project. The last year has proven just how important these outdoor spaces are to thriving communities, and we are thrilled to create something that has been much needed in our city,” Motown Museum Chairwoman and CEO Robin Terry said, per a press release. “The new Motown Museum plaza will be a place where residents and tourists from around the globe can come to bask in Motown music, be entertained by pop-up performances and connect with other Motown fans on the very grounds where the Motown Sound was born and music history was made.”
The space, designed by Hamilton Anderson Associates of Detroit as part of the museum's ongoing $55 million expansion, will feature a mix of hardscapes and softscapes.
For the first time since the expansion campaign began, the museum is revealing its current fundraising total, which stands at $32 million as of this week.
Museum officials say the vision for the new plaza can be traced to Motown’s roots, as it’s “inspired by a time when young Motown acts like Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops and so many others, would hang out in front of Motown’s headquarters on W. Grand Boulevard.”
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