The Ovation to bring music and entertainment to downtown Lansing in 2026

Lansing officials say the city is on track to open a major performing arts hall downtown.

Officials unveiled new renderings for the Ovation Center for Music and Arts Wednesday and gave an update on the project. The planned concert hall along Washington Square will have standing room for more than 2,000 attendees as well as space for seated performances and a smaller-scale black box theater.

The site will redevelop a surface parking lot into this hub for concerts, film screenings and other performances, including a variety of musical experiences.

“It’ll serve a lot of different age demographics,” said Ovation founding director Dominic Cochran. “We’ll have folk, hip hop, rock and roll, heavy metal, and also some of that more classic jazz.”

The exterior of the building will include two LED marquees to display upcoming shows and donor names. The space will also feature concession stands and a rooftop terrace.

The project has a projected construction budget of $28 million, with funding coming from a mix of state appropriations, local dollars, private corporate investments and individual contributions.

Cochran said the project will attract national acts that currently skip Lansing and tour in Grand Rapids or Detroit. He added that it will help generate new activity in the city’s downtown and its businesses.

“We know that the state workers are not going to come back like they were,” he said. “The answer to downtown is housing and entertainment…once we have the bodies and the actual residential density down here, what are they going to do?”

The Ovation will also host the Lansing Public Media Center as well as podcast and music recording studios.

The facility is being planned alongside other development projects downtown and across the city—including a new city hall, a hotel, and hundreds of new housing units.

“We’re taking space that really wasn’t used very well, and we’re repurposing it for better use,” said Lansing Mayor Andy Schor. “This is going to be an anchor institution.”

“In two to three years, we’re going to have a very different Lansing.”

The Ovation is expected to open in the fall of 2026.