The historic Packard Plant, which was purchased at the Wayne County Tax Auction for nearly half a million dollars in 2013, may be back on the auction block this fall as the owner owes more than $185,000 in unpaid 2016 taxes, according to the county treasurer's office.

Properties in Michigan are subject to foreclosure after three years of unpaid taxes, so the 2016 delinquency landed over 40 parcels of the multi-sectioned facility — south of I-94 and east of Mt. Elliot Street on Detroit's east side — on a list of 42,568 Wayne County properties at risk of tax foreclosure this year.

Arte Express is the company that purchased the Packard Plant in 2013. Its spokesman, Joseph Kopietz said drainage fees over the last few years were assessed for vacant parcels and were added to delinquent taxes.

"We do intend to get these taken care of," Kopietz said. He said the company is working to pay off the amount within the next month.

Mario Morrow, spokesman for the Wayne County Treasurer's Office, said: "All Arte Express-owned Packard parcels have unpaid 2016 taxes in the amount of $185,289.15 which are subject to foreclosure, if not redeemed, or entered into a payment plan by March 31, as of today."

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This is not the first time the Packard Plant has been behind on taxes. In 2013 it was scooped up at the Wayne County Tax Auction for $405,000 by its current owner, Spanish-born developer Fernando Palazuelo.

Palazuelo's company, Arte Express, announced at the time that it planned to tackle the redevelopment of the 40-acre, long-neglected, plant. The plan was to renovate the former factory as a modern mixed-use commercial, residential and cultural development.

While private security was hired to watch over the space shortly after the purchase and a banner replicating the original "Packard Plant" sign was hung across East Grand Blvd., for many years little progress appeared to be occurring.

In 2016 Arte Express went before Detroit's City Council saying the multi-million dollar rehab was contingent on approval of a 12-year tax freeze, which was eventually approved. While the plan for the property was said, at the time, to be a 10- to 15-year, four-phase project, the tax break was deemed necessary to allow the owners to get started.

"We expect it’s going to take a number of years to pull a profit — but that’s not our main goal," Kari Smith, director of development for Arte Express told the Free Press at the time. "Our main goal is the architectural renovation of these buildings and the benefits that this transition is going to have for the community."

In May 2017, the rehab finally broke ground.

Financing for the first phase involved a mix of private equity funding from Palazuelo's companies, tax credits, a $300,000 Wayne County loan, an $80,000 county grant and a $5.2-million brownfield environmental cleanup that would reimburse that amount to Arte Express over a period of years.

“This is a project of projects," Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said at the May 2017 groundbreaking. "Lots of good things are going on in the city of Detroit, but when you think of the massive nature of this project and you think of the experience that Fernando and Arte Express have throughout the world, there’s an opportunity here to do something massive."

The groundbreaking marked the first phase of Palazuelo's plan: transforming the old Packard administrative building, 1580 E. Grand Blvd., into 121,000 square feet of commercial office space as well as a gallery and an events venue that is large enough for weddings. That work, at the time, was said to take 18 to 24 months and cost $16 million.

A year and a half later Phase I has not been completed. And the continued wear and tear on the old building has been noticeable. Earlier this week the Packard Plant's famous bridge over East Grand Boulevard collapsed, covering the roadway that cuts through the iconic ruin with debris.

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No one was injured when the bridge fell at about 3 p.m. Wednesday. Detroit Police quickly moved to cordon off the street.

The auto plant opened in 1903 and built its last Packard car in the 1950s. It lost most of its remaining industrial tenants in the 1990s, a period when the crumbling factory grounds became known for hosting lively rave parties.

This week, the Wayne County Treasurer is holding "show cause" hearings where taxpayers at risk of foreclosure can get on payment plans or settle their debts. The deadline to pay off late property taxes or get on a payment plan is March 31, 2019 — after this date, properties with delinquent taxes from 2016 or earlier will receive a judgment of foreclosure.

This story has been updated from a previous version to indicate the full scope of Wayne County taxes owed on the Packard Plant for 2016, based on data from the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office.

Contact Allie Gross: AEGross@freepress.com. Follow Allie on Twitter @Allie_Elisabeth. DeJanay Booth and JC Reindl contributed to this report.