The City of Oberlin Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve an application to repurpose empty retail space in The Hotel at Oberlin into classrooms and offices for the Oberlin Conservatory’s new Music Theater program.

According to Andrea Simakis, director of media relations for the College, the new space will feature large rehearsal studios, practice rooms, offices for Music Theater faculty and staff, a student lounge, and access to the Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space. It will also feature a recording control room for students in the new Recording Arts and Production program.

The entire area will be isolated acoustically from the rest of the Hotel. More information on the planned layout of the space can be found on the Music Theater Program website. Construction is slated to begin in the next month so that the space can be ready by August of 2025, in time for the launch of the Music Theater program. Music Theater is one of seven new majors that Oberlin College announced this year.

Since 2016, the 8,792 square feet of space in the Hotel at Oberlin have sat vacant. According to Carrie Porter, the director of planning and development for the City of Oberlin, there were various proposals for the space, including at one point as a restaurant for the Great Lakes Brewing Company.

“I know the consultants that the College had at the time were out trying to recruit different retail chains and things to go in that space,” Porter explained. “But just nothing seemed to come to fruition. So it’s been unfinished.”

Porter cited the cost of starting a business in the Hotel as a barrier for recruiting retailers.

“You’re talking a significant construction project to even white box it, because there are no walls in there, there’s no utilities. … It’s a gravel floor,” Porter said.

Oberlin City Councilmember Joe Waltzer, OC ’98, and Planning Committee Vice-Chair Bryan Burgess expressed some concern at the Planning Commission meeting over the continued encroachment of the College into the City of Oberlin.

“I was disappointed to hear that the College is switching that from a retail usage to an academic usage,” Waltzer said. “I kind of see the College encroaching more and more in our downtown space and taking over spaces. I would really love to see a broader conversation between the City and College about these things. … I feel like we’ll really impede our downtown’s ability to grow and recover as more and more spaces leave the retail space and go into institutional space.”