Most rehearsal rooms on Morrissey Boulevard will have windows. Photo: Mike Deehan/Axios.
Up to a thousand Boston-area musicians will begin unloading their gear at a former Dorchester radio station next week, moving into a massive new rehearsal space.
Driving the news: March 1 marks the opening of a new rehearsal studio at 55 Morrissey Blvd. to replace the closure sound museum in Allston-Brighton which has housed practice acts for decades.
- The new “swing space” is intended to provide temporary housing for displaced musicians while city officials and art advocates work to find something more permanent with the company that purchased the Sound Museum building.
Why is this important: The expansion of life science companies, developments and exorbitant real estate costs across the city have artists in areas like Allston-Brighton looking for affordable practice space.
What is happening: The Morrissey Boulevard building, once home to Beasley Broadcast Group radio stations like Hot 96.9, is being redeveloped by the non-profit music association Record Co. into a 35,000 square foot musician center.
Enlarge: The Record Co. wants to create an artist community in the building, which will have communal lounges and a kitchen, so artists can mingle, play and share ideas.
- The new space will have two floors, with 88 practice rooms large enough to easily accommodate multi-room acts.
- The former radio studios are being converted into recording space and online streaming studios that will be made available to tenants this spring.
The artists will pay between $374 per month for a solo room and $638 for larger rooms, with additional charges for better soundproofing.
- The building will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.
What they say : “There’s no way to meet the need” for more workout space in Boston, Matt McArthur of The Record Co. told Axios
- More affordable facilities, like the Morrissey Building and whatever will eventually replace the Sound Museum in Allston-Brighton, will also be needed to maintain a vibrant music scene in Boston, McArthur added.
And after: The Record Co. is contracted to operate the new rehearsal space for two years while permanent accommodation is found for the musicians.
- IQHQ, the development company that purchased the building occupied by the Museum of Sound, is in dialogue with the city to outfit a new space in Allston for a music practice space.
What we are looking at: The newly renovated property on Morrissey Boulevard could suffer the same fate as the Allston-Brighton space.