Most of the large, prominent properties along the city's spine south of Grand Circus Park have seen substantial investment the last several years, although that trend seems to have skipped over the Fowler. Brokers and other real estate experts have long considered it in need of a large-scale rehab.

While first-floor retail space is being white-boxed nearby and splashy tenants have planted their flags, there is little evidence that anything has been done with the Fowler Building minus a building permit for about $205,000 worth of work in 2014.

But its location may make it attractive. It sits across from Dan Gilbert's planned development on the former J.L. Hudson's department store site that is expected to get the state's tallest building, possibly clocking it at 912 feet.

The Fowler Building hit the market around Thanksgiving, said Gregory Newman, the listing broker who is principal for Farmington Hills-based Keystone Commercial Real Estate LLC.

It is being listed "to see if they could get the number," Newman said Monday evening, adding that they are targeting a sale to a buyer who would occupy the building rather than an investor at that price.

After being built for an estimated cost of $150,000 (about $4 million today), the Fowler Building opened in 1911 as the home of Kline's Ladies Wear, which was housed there until 1958, according to city historic documents. It was designed by the architecture firm Donaldson & Meier.

Learning about the listing made me wonder about another property the owner has not too far away in Corktown: the CPA Building.

Similar to the Fowler's proximity to the massive Hudson's site project, the CPA Building at 14th Street and Michigan Avenue sits across from Ford Motor Co.'s $350 million redevelopment of Michigan Central Station as part of the automaker's $740 million Corktown campus for autonomous and electric vehicles.

Like the Fowler, the CPA has been a challenged property. While the former stands out as mostly dormant in an otherwise busy stretch of Woodward, the latter has been threatened by the wrecking ball only to be spared two years ago.

Sequoia purchased the CPA and the block surrounding it in May 2014 for $900,000. The company, owned by Vivek Garipalli and Robert Zalkin, told Crain's in a statement after the purchase that it wanted "to hear ideas from the community on the best use for this property."

"We view the opportunity as a blank slate. Having visited Detroit dozens of times over the last few years, we are struck by Corktown's potential and its increasing vibrance [sic]. We are in this project for the long haul and are very excited about what the future holds for Detroit and Corktown."

Newman said Monday that the group is more optimistic about the neighborhood west of downtown than the central business district itself.

"They are more enthused about that area than downtown for the return," Newman said, saying that the company is "talking to different lenders" and "moving forward with the Corktown project."

Other big-dollar-figure sales in the last 12 months include the train depot ($90 million), the old Shapero Hall property in Lafayette Park ($16 million), the Buhl Building and its parking garage ($38.5 million), the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Downtown Detroit ($23.3 million), the Lakeshore Global building ($19.5 million) and a large plot of land north of the Midtown Whole Foods store ($15 million), according to city property records.