Don Was to open Detroit studio at Music School

Developer Joel Landy -- well-known around these parts -- is transforming the former Malcolm X Academy on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., into the Music School,  a hub for music recording, instruction, rehearsal and performance. There are three studios already moved in, most notably one helmed by legendary producer Don Was, Landy's former junior high school classmate.

Landy purchased the building from Detroit Public Schools in August. It is 58,000 square feet with a gymnasium, 300-seat auditorium and 42 classrooms. It is "wonderful shape" says Landy, in no small part because of $1 million in bond money the district spent on upgrading the facility in 2006.

The condition of the school facilitates extremely low rent -- $0.50 a square foot. The 5,000-square-foot auditorium is priced at $2,500 a month, and Landy hopes to find a promoter interested in the venue. The classrooms average 750 square feet and the building is highly soundproof.

Was is taking over the gymnasium as the People's Recording Studio - Detroit. "He's loving the sound," says Landy. "We changed the character of the room by hanging huge velvet curtains." Was plans on recording an album in his new space in December.

This is the fourth school building that Landy has purchased. He turned the Leland School near Lafayette Park into lofts, the Burton School on Cass now houses a movie theater and the offices of several small businesses and non-profit organizations and the Selden School has become Midtown Academy, a charter school.

Interested in being part of a reuse of a former school? Head right over here for details on a seminar being held Nov. 17 on the topic.

Source: Joel Landy, Cass Avenue Development
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh