In a city where all rooftop views are spectacular, the Music Academy of the West may soon be sporting the city’s most spectacular rooftop view of them all. Last week, members of the City of Santa Barbara Planning Commission unanimously fell all over themselves to approve a special exception to the city’s height limits for the Music Academy’s proposed musical performance, rehearsal, and instruction center at the intersection of State and Canon Perdido streets — now officially named “The Muse.”
By making the finding that the proposed changes to the long vacant three-story structure — formerly Forever 21 — are “exemplary in design” and “sensitive to the context” of nearby buildings, the commissioners voted to designate the property as a “community benefit” project. This designation allows the Music Academy to exceed the city’s 45-foot height limit for properties in El Pueblo Viejo, as well as the construction of a 3,000-square-foot rooftop event space complete with the two elevator towers needed to get visitors up to the roof.
Groundbreaking on the project is scheduled for July 18.
When done, the entire interior will be dramatically revamped and engineered to meet the nuanced performance needs of a 95-piece orchestra, as well as smaller ensembles. Aside from performances, the building will offer multiple music instruction rooms — for all levels and all ages — and rehearsal space, as well.
Music Academy executive Shauna Quill said she envisioned using the space for various artists in residence; programming plans, she said, still remain very much a work in progress. When questioned by commissioners, Quill said she expects the Academy will also offer some free classes and free performances; she talked about opening up the new facility during the Farmers’ Market to “yoga with live music.” Not all the music, she added, would be classical.
In response, Commissioner Daniel DeLuccio said, “My request is yoga on the rooftop.”
The commissioners ranged in response from excited to very excited to so excited. The proposed new center would provide a major draw to a downtown in a state of perpetual reinvention, complementing the new multiplex movie theater recently opened the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, not to mention the changes soon to be taking place at the Lobero Theatre. Commissioner John Baucke complimented Quill and her team for taking one of the many large and looming empty buildings that so bedevil State Street and bringing back to life without first tearing it down.