Detroit studio listed for $1.5M after facing demolition

DETROIT – A recording studio in Detroit that once welcomed artists such as Aretha Franklin and Miles Davis has been listed for $1.5 million after earlier being targeted for demolition.

MLive.com reports that there’s no stipulation in the sale that the United Sound Systems property must remain an active recording studio.

The studio was founded by Italian violinist and recording engineer James “Jimmie” Siracuse and holds bragging rights over the first single for Tamla Records — the label that would later become Berry Gordy’s Motown Records. But it closed in the mid-2000s. The building was targeted for demolition in 2013 under a plan to widen Interstate 94.

The state backed off demolition plans and the studio got a historic marker in 2017 following efforts by the non-profit Detroit Sound Conservancy.