“Just over three years ago, the roughly four-acre site on which the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the Stax Academy now stand was covered with debris and abandoned apartment complexes in need of demolition,” said Andrew F. Cates, chairman and project developer of Soulsville, the nonprofit corporation responsible for the $20 million Soulsville Revitalization Project in downtown Memphis.
But this past July, Cates and the rest of the Soulsville Revitalization crew celebrated the opening of the 27,000-square-foot Stax Music Academy (which sits on the site of the old Stax Recording studios), one of many planned grand openings for this musically historical district. The academy, which will focus on music to help troubled youths, sits next to a 17,000-square-foot museum of American Soul Music, also newly opened. A 500-seat performing center is also planned.
Design architects LRK, in partnership with Self-Tucker Architects, has contributed to the Soulsville project. For more, visit www.soulsvilleusa.com.
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