The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra is celebrating the construction of a new $11.75 million headquarters in downtown Little Rock.

The symphony held a groundbreaking Thursday at the future site of the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in the city’s East Village neighborhood.

“We’re going to immediately have space to fulfill the needs of the E. Lee Ronnel Music Academy, we will have a recording studio with the capability to reach people in their homes, in their schools and in residential facilities from long-term care to rehabilitation clinics to prisons,” Robson said.

The symphony joins other notable Little Rock institutions with a presence in the East Village neighborhood, including the Clinton Presidential Center and the headquarters of Heifer International. The new facility will house the symphony’s E. Lee Ronnel Music Academy, and will feature spaces for performance, practice and instrument storage.