The Michigan Department of Transportation will move the storied United Sound recording studio in Detroit to make way to expand I-94.

MDOT bought the United Sound Systems Recording Studios at 5840 Second Ave. in Midtown and its adjacent parking lot Dec. 14 for $1.7 million. It plans to sell the historic building at public auction after moving it slightly north onto the parking lot, away from the retaining walls expected to be built for the I-94 modernization project.

The department hasn't yet determined a cost or timeline for the move, spokesman Rob Morosi said.

The building was listed for sale for $1.5 million in June this year, Curbed Detroit reported.

United Sound, Detroit's first major independent recording studio, has been jeopardized by impending I-94 highway widening over the years. Detroit City Council designated it a historic district in 2015, but from 2005 until around then, demolition was a major possibility.

Multiple attempts were made to contact the studio Friday.

The decision to buy and move the building was made in consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office to protect United Sound from harm due to road construction work, MDOT said in a news release.