Bharatiya Temple in Troy, MI to double its size

Detroit News is reporting (story by reporter Catherine Jun) that

A $9 million expansion of the temple on North Adams and South Boulevard is finally scheduled to begin within a week, with final building permits in hand that will allow excavation and foundation work on 17 acres.

The project has been in the works for nearly a decade. By the end of 2009, builders will erect a 60,000-square-foot structure, with a grand rotunda, a sky-lit worship hall and three shikharas, similar to steeples, pointing to the sky.

The new structure will fuse architectural styles of northern and southern India, in keeping with the temple's inclusive approach to worship, rather than focusing on one region's religious traditions.