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The Packard Plant

(David Muller)

DETROIT, MI – The Wayne County Treasurer’s property database indicates that as of Monday the owners of the Packard Plant still owe some $92,670 in delinquent taxes.

The property is owned by Arte Express, the development firm of Fernando Palzauelo, who is originally from Spain but moved his business to Lima, Peru after the global financial meltdown. A representative for the firm said in an email Tuesday, "This issue is being addressed."

Deputy treasurer Dave Szymanski could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Palazuelo told the media at an event last month that the 42-parcel property's taxes were supposed to be handled by his lawyers, and are not something he monitors. He bought the 3.5-million-square-foot Packard Plant site for $405,000 near the end of last year after two bidders in the 2013 Wayne County tax foreclosure auction failed to come up sufficient funds.

Palazuelo said at last month's event he planned to put signage up before the end of June. A tour of the property Monday revealed at least one sign, advertising "Revitalizing the Packard Plant for the Betterment of Detroit." A security guard was patrolling the area.

A new sign at the Packard Plant says "Revitalizing the Packard Plant for the Betterment of Detroit."

Palazuelo has said he wants to have seven to eight different tenants at the site, with a focus on automotive distributors, but also including a school and artistic residences. He said his team of developers from Lima-based Arte Express plan to continue securing the site and hope to have an office at the former automobile plant's headquarters building before next winter.

In a somewhat bizarre speech at the event, hosted by Founders Junior Council in downtown Detroit, Palazuelo told the crowd that he owed close to $40 million on developments in Peru. He said he bought 22 buildings "on credit" in Lima.

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Back in Detroit, Palazuelo has also said he wants to host a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert at the site, as a kind of artistic dichotomy between the abrupt wreckage of the blighted plant and the DSO’s eloquent take on composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

A DSO spokeswoman said Tuesday the DSO has been in talks with Palazuelo and co. but so far has no immediate plans for a concert at the site.

“It will probably happen at some point, but I don’t think the plant is ready yet to host something like that,” Gabrielle Poshadlo said. “It’s definitely something we’re considering.”

The plant has been mostly abandoned and left to scrappers and urban explorers since the 1990s. The Packard Motor Car Company manufactured luxury vehicles there until 1958.

David Muller is the business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter