Music Academy of the West proposes downtown performance and education center; HLC backs concept but asks for design refinements

Representatives of the Music Academy of the West presented a concept Dec. 3 to convert 901 State Street into a 25,000‑square‑foot music and education center, featuring a 90‑person acoustically tuned interior performance 'jewel', teaching studios, recording spaces and a rooftop event deck. The project includes service‑area changes, a new service elevator and a stair tower at the rear and would add roughly 2,900 square feet of nonresidential floor area and an approximately 10–12 foot rooftop height increment for mechanical/overrun and restroom space.

Carly Earnest, the case planner, noted the project is scheduled for City Council consideration Dec. 16 for designation as a community‑benefit project that would allow allocation of additional nonresidential square footage and permit an exception to the 45‑foot height limit. Planning Commission would later need to make the specific findings for the height exception.

Commissioners strongly supported the Music Academy’s public‑benefit program and the proposed reuse of the building but raised aesthetic and context concerns about a new rear elevator/stair tower: commissioners requested a streetscape height comparison and section drawings to show how the tower relates to neighboring buildings, asked the team to study alternatives and to return for an additional HLC concept review before Planning Commission acts on the height exception. Commissioners also suggested exploring architectural treatments that reference music (window rhythms or subtle graphic treatments) and to refine the tower’s massing and detailing to better fit El Pueblo Viejo’s context.

The commission voted to continue the item for more study and encouraged the team to return with comparative sections and refined design options.