$220M Music Museum to Join Growing List of District Arts Destinations

WASHINGTON, DC-Long in the works, plans for the new 155,000-sf National Music Center and Museum have taken a significant move with the establishment of a 14-person founding board this week to oversee the establishment of the proposed $220 million cultural facility. The Federal City Council, a nonprofit organization with a mission to improve the Nation’s Capital, has been helping to move the project along with its Federal City Council National Music Center Task Force.

If all goes as planned, the museum will open up on what is to be the redeveloped mixed-use site of the former Convention Center in 2008. The music center would be the focal point of that 10.5-acre development, which is expected to include retail and residential offerings, a central library and landscaped public open space. The council is hoping to snag the 70,000-sf footprint on the old Convention Center grounds that has been set aside by the District for performance venues. That space would hold the museum complex, offering about 45,000 sf of room for exhibits showcasing music-related material from around the globe, as well as three performance venues accommodating 3,000, 750 and 300 persons, respectively.