Late last year, the museum and the New York-based Rock Hall Foundation announced that the 2009 festivities would be held in Cleveland for the first time since 1997 with an option (that will surely be picked up) to hold the induction ceremony in Cleveland every three years.
In addition, a few months from now, the rock hall will open a 25,000-square-foot annex in the heart of New York's hip and happening Soho neighborhood, and next year plans to open a similar space in Memphis at the Gibson guitar building. The museum is also building a $20 million library and archive at Cuyahoga Community College and is about to embark on the first museum renovation in 20 years.
Some conspiracy-minded folks are suggesting that the annex might be the first step in moving the museum to New York, or at least that the Rock Hall Foundation is once again steamrolling the museum (and by extension, Cleveland). Many folks also believe that the foundation is NYC-centric and doesn't give a rat's tushie about the goings on in Cleveland.