92.9 FM: Permanent Allston Rehearsal Space in the Works for Local Artists
(Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)
In a big win for musicians and artists in the Boston metro, plans for a permanent Allston rehearsal space have been announced.
Let’s get you caught up, if you need catching up. Last December, I wrote about how The Sound Museum in Allston, which provided practice space for local musicians and artists for over 40 years, was closing. The building, located at 155 North Beacon Street, was purchased by developers. And while the bands who called the space home had advocated for an exit plan, nothing concrete had been put in place.
Then, earlier this year, came this update. IQHQ, the California-based firm developing 155 North Beacon St., acquired 290 North Beacon St. from the owners of the audio-visual business Boston Light and Sound for $18 million in the final days of 2022. Their plan? To give the property to the city as a replacement for the Sound Museum.
Permanent Allston Rehearsal Space in the Works for Local Artists
Looks like that plan has come to fruition. The Boston Globe reports: “IQHQ, will donate the building at 290 N. Beacon St. to the City of Boston as part of a mitigation package to offset the displacement of some 700 musicians and other performing artists by the construction of a life sciences campus on the site of the old Sound Museum property.”
The building is HUGE. 35,000 square feet, close to the size of the old Sound Museum. So there will plenty of space for rehearsal space, right where in the neighborhood where rehearsal space should be. All that’s left is for The Boston Planning & Development Agency to put it to a vote. I’ll keep following the story and keep you up-to-date. In the meantime, check out the temporary rehearsal pace that the Art Stays Here Coalition set up for bands in the old ROCK 92.9 studio building in Dorchester right here.