UM Music School Addition Named for Brehms

A $23.27 million addition and renovation at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance will be named in honor of Bill and Dee Brehm. Approvals for the project and renaming of the Earl V. Moore Building were approved in separate votes by UM regents at their Nov. 15, 2012 meeting.

The project includes a 21,000-square-foot addition to house a new rehearsal hall, lecture hall, classrooms, practice rooms and studios, and storage space. The structure will be located to the south of the existing building, which on UM’s north campus. The project will also include renovation of the first floor north wing to increase the number of practice rooms, and the west side of the second floor north wing, where offices will be added. The firm Integrated Design Solutions will handle the design for the addition and renovation.

The Brehms are donating $8 million to this project, with the university providing $14 million and the rest coming from other donations. According to a staff memo, the couple has given more than $60 million to the university in the past for a variety of projects, including an addition to the Kellogg Eye Center – named the Brehm Tower – and the founding of the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research & Analysis. The Brehms had been honored at the September 2011 regents meeting for their ongoing contributions.

The school’s dean, Christopher Kendall, attended the Nov. 15 meeting but did not formally address the regents. He received a round of applause for his work on the project.

This report was filed from the Anderson Room at the Michigan Union on UM’s central campus in Ann Arbor, where the regents held their November meeting.