Music Hall expansion, $80 million bond plan get blessing from City Council committee
Music Hall’s proposed $125 million expansion took a big step toward reality Thursday as a Detroit City Council committee greenlighted a key financing component.
Following a public hearing, the council’s planning and development committee voted to recommend full council approval of $80 million in nonprofit bonds for the project. The bonds would be issued by the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and secured by Music Hall revenues with its mortgage as collateral.
The EDC and City of Detroit would not be liable for any payment of the bonds, which would be issued to Music Hall as tax-exempt financing under the federal government’s 501(c)(3) guidelines.
The seven-level, 108,000-square-foot Music Hall expansion would rise next to the existing 96-year-old facility at Madison and Grand River in downtown Detroit’s theater district. Designed by New York architect and Michigan native Tod Williams, the site would include a 2,000-capacity concert venue, music academy and office space, along with an activated alley and themed restaurant celebrating Detroit's music history.
It would be the most significant new arts construction in the city since the expansion of Orchestra Hall in 2003.
Music Hall board chairman Alex Parrish said during Thursday’s hearing that nonprofit bonds are frequently deployed as financing tools in other cities but haven’t been commonly used in Detroit. In addition to the $80 million in bonds, the Music Hall expansion would be funded with $45 million in private financing, which is already lined up.
If the bond plan is approved Tuesday by the full City Council, the project will break ground this summer with a completion target of December 2026, said Vince Paul, Music Hall's president.
Project organizers told council members that construction would involve no road closures or disruptions to area businesses.
Councilman Fred Durhal III, a 2002 Detroit School of Arts graduate, touted the expansion project’s music education plans, particularly amid financial challenges for school music programs in Detroit and elsewhere.
“This is the music capital of the world, when you talk about Motown and such rich history,” Durhal said.
Paul and EDC Vice President Kenyetta Hairston-Bridges told the committee the Music Hall expansion will create 446 full-time jobs and become a gateway to downtown’s Paradise Valley district.
Thursday’s hearing followed several other City Council approvals of the Music Hall plan late last year. In November, Hiram Jackson and Dennis Archer Jr. were appointed as special directors to oversee the expansion project on behalf of the city.
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Music Hall bond plan gets blessing from Detroit City Council committee
