Kansas City Symphony to Develop New Live Music Venue in South Plaza

Posted March 31, 2026

The Kansas City Symphony announced plans to develop a new live music venue in Kansas City’s South Plaza district.

The new venue will serve as a way to bolster the Symphony’s reach while expanding Kansas City’s ability to host national touring artists and new live music experiences. The venue is expected to bring in over 300,000 annual visitors.

The venue, located at 4901 Main Street in South Plaza, will be indoors and capable of hosting up to 4,600 guests. A targeted opening for the venue is set for 2028. It will also be designed from the ground up to support the live performance of films with orchestra, the Symphony’s most in-demand shows, according to a release.

Rendering of the Kansas City Symphony’s new live music venue that is planned to host up to 4,600 people. Photo credit: The Kansas City Symphony.

Music and Event Management, Inc. (MEMI) will manage the new space. The Symphony will wholly own the new venue, collaborating with MEMI to operate it. MEMI, a subsidiary of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was founded in 2001 and promotes more than 300 events annually and attracts over 100 million guests across six live entertainment venues.

“This venue allows us to welcome more artists to Kansas City and ensures that the Symphony will continue serving this community for generations to come,” President and CEO of the Kansas City Symphony Danny Beckley said in the release. “Major performing arts organizations with high fixed costs must innovate, and building on the incredible success of MEMI, we’re doing exactly that.”

Populous and McCownGordon will work with the Kansas City Symphony as the project’s design and construction build leads, respectively.

The Symphony said the Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center will continue to remain as its “definitive orchestral home.” With the addition of the new venue, the Symphony will be able to maintain a yearly schedule of over 100 performances at the Kauffman Center and new musical experiences for Helzberg Hall.

“Kansas City has always made music history, from Charlie Parker and Count Basie to a world-class symphony that keeps raising the bar. Now we’re raising it again,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in the release. “Kansas City Symphony’s new music venue will put Kansas City exactly where we belong: on every tour, every time, cementing our place as one of America’s great music cities.”

A groundbreaking for the project will be conducted later this year.