GREEN BAY - Tenants in a downtown apartment building could lose access to parking spaces under a lawsuit Foxconn filed earlier this year.

The Taiwanese technology company has not started renovations on its Foxconn Place Green Bay innovation center at Pine Street and the Fox River, but it did file a civil suit against Flats on the Fox, 335 N. Washington St., over parking-garage spaces earlier this month.

Foxconn acquired the parking garage in November as part of its $9 million purchase of the Watermark building, formerly Younkers. The parking garage is between Foxconn's building and Flats on the Fox.

FE Watermark LLC, a Foxconn Technology Group subsidiary, filed the suit May 8 against River Center Lofts LLC, a subsidiary of Madison-based Stone House Development Inc. that developed and operates the downtown apartment building.

Foxconn claims Flats on the Fox failed to pay maintenance, insurance and taxes due under a 2007 parking easement agreement that gave the apartment building's tenants use of parking spaces in the garage at the west end of Pine Street.

Court records show Flats on the Fox was served a copy of the lawsuit on May 13. The company did not return requests for an interview.

The lawsuit asks Brown County Circuit Court Judge Kendall Kelley to terminate the agreement and order Stone House Development to pay $109,596 owed from 2013 to 2015. It also seeks additional taxes, insurance and maintenance costs that have accrued since 2015.

Some of the charges occurred well before Foxconn bought the building and parking garage last year. The property's prior owner transferred the claim to past-due operating costs to Foxconn when the tech company bought the building.

The lawsuit comes at a time when Green Bay is waiting for the global technology manufacturer to start renovations on the second floor of Foxconn Place Green Bay, formerly home to the Younkers department store.

Green Bay Economic Development Director Kevin Vonck said the company or its contractors had not applied for building permits as of Monday.

Foxconn announced in summer 2018 that it would buy the building and establish an innovation center on the six-story building's second floor. The innovation center would be one of several in the state tasked to develop education, health care, sports and security uses for the company's next-generation display technology.

The Green Bay innovation center is expected to create about 100 technology-related jobs once it opens. The company's local workforce could grow to as many as 200 people once operations are up to speed.

Foxconn initially announced an aggressive timetable to move into the building, but since it closed the $9 million purchase in November, little has happened here. In February, a project manager for the company said it has no clear timetable for when buildout will begin on the Green Bay office.

Foxconn's attentions have shifted back to its main operation in Racine County. Earlier this month, the company received preliminary go-ahead to start construction on parts of its flat-screen factory in Mount Pleasant.

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Green Bay city officials have stayed in contact with Foxconn in the months since it bought the Watermark building. Vonck said communication has slowed in recent weeks, but that the city has not received any indications Foxconn has changed its downtown Green Bay plans.

Myranda Tanck, whose public relations business represents Foxconn, declined a request for an interview. She said the company rarely comments on ongoing legal matters.

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @GBstreetwise.