LOS ANGELES — The Colburn School for music and dance will break ground April 5 on its planned 100,000-square-foot downtown Los Angeles campus expansion designed by famed architect Frank Gehry, the school announced Tuesday.

What You Need To Know

  • Colburn School for music and dance will break ground on its planned 100,000-square-foot campus expansion on April 5

  • The new Colburn Center will include a 1,000- seat concert hall, four professional-sized dance studios and a 100-seat studio theater

  • The Colburn Center is expected to reach substantial completion during the first quarter of 2027

  • The Colburn Center will feature a rooftop garden to host receptions and outdoor performances and a ground-level garden with a performance space

The new building, known as the Colburn Center, will include a 1,000- seat concert hall, four professional-sized dance studios and a 100-seat studio theater in a complex constructed near another Gehry-designed landmark — the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Site work is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks and the groundbreaking ceremony will take place April 5, school officials said. The Colburn Center is expected to reach substantial completion during the first quarter of 2027.

"This is an exciting contribution to the cultural and civic life of downtown Los Angeles," Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. "Colburn has shown a commitment to making education accessible to youth of all ages at their school. With projects like this and Colburn's commitment, Grand Avenue will continue to grow into an energetic cultural district while also creating more opportunities to collaborate with renowned local and touring artists."

The Colburn Center will also add a rooftop garden that will be large enough to host receptions and outdoor performances, as well as a ground-level garden with a dedicated performance space that will be open to the public.

(Gehry Partners, LLP)

The project on the corner of Olive and Second streets will also include an outdoor plaza, gardens and access to nearby public transit stations.

Colburn officials said roughly $315 million toward the school's $400 million fundraising effort has been secured for the project, led by a gift from Terri and Jerry Kohl, whose names will adorn the 1,000-seat concert hall within the expansion.

"At Colburn, making performances accessible to LA audiences is as much a part of our core mission as making first-rate music and dance education available to everyone," Colburn School President Sel Kardan said in a statement. "These are the same values we see in the wonderful design by Frank Gehry: artistic excellence at the highest level, combined with a deep love for the dynamism and diversity that animate life in a great city."