A community music hub is coming to Henrico’s West End

Ask any weekend guitarist or returning piano player in Central Virginia where they go to rehearse, and you’ll usually get a shrug. Rehearsal spaces here have long catered to professional acts. Private instructors teach out of their living rooms. The amateur scene, the people who actually fill out a local music community, have been making do for years.

Sound Hall Studios wants to change that. The new facility is set to open the week of June 29, 2026, at 2821 N. Parham Rd., Suite 204, in the West End of Henrico County. A Grand Opening celebration is scheduled for Saturday, July 18.

What’s inside

The space is built around ten acoustically treated rehearsal and teaching studios available for hourly rental, alongside a professional recording studio. There’s also The Hall, an intimate multi-purpose room that doubles as a co-working lounge, creative hub, and performance space seating about 75 people. Programming will include masterclasses and meet-and-greets with professional musicians from across the country, plus performance opportunities for members in a supportive setting.

The studio is open to walk-ins and members alike. Memberships start at $29 a month, with tiers for solo musicians, bands and ensembles, and independent instructors who want a professional home base for their lesson studios. Students with a valid ID get a discount. Hours run Monday through Friday from noon to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Four years of planning

Sound Hall is the project of CEO and President Shannon Loy, who started developing the concept more than four years ago and committed to making it real about a year back. Loy is a Maryland Distinguished Scholar in the Arts who earned a full tuition scholarship to Towson University, graduating in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education. A classically trained clarinetist and jazz saxophonist, she studied in high school with woodwind professional and Selmer Company clinician Chris Vadala, and most recently played tenor sax with the Richmond Pops Band from 2017 to 2020.

Her resume covers a lot of ground in the music world: middle school band director, private instructor, ticketing professional at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and years as a school services representative and retail manager for Music & Arts, the country’s largest band and orchestra instrument dealer. Richmond audiences may recognize her name from The Tin Pan, the Henrico listening room that opened in 2015. Loy helped launch the venue, built its social media presence, and served for a stretch as its PR Director.

“As a musician and music industry professional, I’ve watched access to music slowly diminish — from cuts in school programs to fewer places where musicians can gather, collaborate, and grow,” Loy said. “Music should never feel out of reach, yet for many people, even having a space to play is a challenge. At its core, music is about expression and connection, and we need spaces that allow people to fully experience that — to create, to belong, and to simply be themselves.”

Co-founder, COO, and Vice President Chris Davis brings 26-plus years in music education, retail, and business consulting. A Longwood University graduate with a degree in Music Education, concentrations in piano and low brass, Davis started out as a middle and high school band director in North Carolina before spending two decades at Music & Arts and Washington Music Center as a top-performing Educational Representative and Manager. He earned his MBA at the College of William & Mary and founded First Note Music Consulting, which helps music retailers grow their sales teams. He also represents Germantown Violin Company, supplying string instruments to school programs around the country.

“I’ve spent my career helping music businesses grow, but Sound Hall Studios is the most meaningful project I’ve ever been part of,” Davis said. “We’re not just opening a studio — we’re building the kind of resource Central Virginia musicians have needed for a long time. The response we’ve already received tells me the community has been waiting for this.”

Getting it off the ground

The path from concept to opening took roughly a year of work. Financing a first-of-its-kind business with no direct local comparable was a slog, and so was finding a space big enough to house multiple studios, a recording room, a retail shop, and The Hall, while still being accessible to the people they wanted to serve. The Parham Road location sits directly across from J.R. Tucker High School, with easy access to I-64 and West Broad Street.

Beyond the rehearsal rooms

The studio is courting a wide audience: school band and orchestra students, adult hobbyists, independent instructors, performing ensembles, and working musicians. Independent teachers can rent professional teaching studios by the hour through instructor membership tiers, building their lesson businesses without the commission structures that come with traditional music stores.

Sound Hall also plans to invest beyond its own walls. The organization is committing to expanded music education access for underserved youth in Central Virginia through benefit concerts, scholarship programs for camps and workshops, free and reduced-cost studio time for qualifying youth programs, and a round-up donation program at point of sale. Partnerships with regional nonprofits and community organizations are in the works.

The full website is still under development. For now, anyone curious about memberships, studio rentals, or programming can reach the team at [email protected] or 804-629-3678. Sign up for VIP early access and updates at www.SoundHallStudios.com. Media can contact Shannon Loy directly at [email protected] to schedule a pre-opening tour or arrange interviews.