DETROIT (WXYZ) — The historic house on West Grand Boulevard where the Motown sound was born is growing its story without losing its soul. The Motown Museum is in the middle of a multi-year expansion set to wrap up by spring 2027, with cranes, steel and fresh blueprints transforming the legendary space.
Watch Meghan Daniels' video report below:
Museum officials say the goal is simple: expand the space so they can expand the story.
"There were so many stories that we just hadn't told. We didn't have the real estate to tell," Robin Terry said.
Terry, the grandniece of Berry Gordy and chairwoman of the Motown Museum, says those untold stories are taking center stage in the new design.
"We've really committed this new space to telling a lot of those stories," Terry said.
Some of those stories were reminisced upon when alumni from Hitsville U.S.A. reunited on their old stomping ground to sign the final beam for the expansion's frame.
From state-of-the-art exhibits to performance spaces and interactive studios for young artists, the expansion is about building more room for the music and the people who made Motown what it is.
Watch Chopper 7 video showing the construction site:
"Motown music was a sound of young America. It just wasn't a Black-owned record company. It was a record company that went to the community," Miller London said.
For London, executive vice president and general manager of Hitsville U.S.A. and one of Motown's original executives, the expansion is personal.
"I lived up the street. I lived in the neighborhood. So to even think about me being where I am today and being a part of something so fabulous, it was incredible because we grew up on Motown music," London said.
As the walls rise, the mission remains the same: to honor the music that changed the world and inspire the next generation who may walk through those doors.
The home once launched legends like Stevie Wonder, The Temptations and Michael Jackson, and now it's preparing to tell even more of their stories.
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