The New York City-based owners of the CPA Building in Corktown intend to tear it down.

On Monday, BFD Corktown LLC, the entity that owns the 11,000-square-foot building at Michigan Avenue and 14th Street near the Michigan Central Depot and Slows Bar BQ, was issued a demolition permit, according to online city records.

Gregory Newman, principal of Farmington Hills-based Keystone Commercial Real Estate LLC, which represents the ownership group locally, said in an email Wednesday morning that he is unsure when demolition will happen.

"I was told that there were complaints from local businesses and property owners in the area that prompted the city to push for demolition of the property," he said.

In a statement, Melvin "Butch" Hollowell, Detroit's corporation counsel, said the law department filed a nuisance abatement lawsuit against BFD Corktown LLC and obtained a court order Nov. 3 "requiring the owner to either remediate or demolish the property."

"In compliance with the Order, the owner obtained demolition permits from the City, has retained a demolition contractor, and plans to have demolition completed by the end of the year."

He said the building "has been open, vacant, and in a blighted and dangerous condition for over two decades." The most recent inspection in September found the building "in a dangerous condition with masonry on the southwest front of the building falling on the sidewalk from the upper floors; the first floor boards had deteriorated and remain open to trespass; and the open fencing was a public safety concern."

BFD Corktown, a subsidiary of New York City-based Sequoia Property Partners LLC, received three blight tickets in August totaling about $4,000 and paid them in full, according to online records.

Sequoia said in March 2015 that it was attempting to spare the building, which is named after the Conductors Protective Association, from demolition.

Phil Cooley, co-owner of nearby Slows Bar BQ and Gold Cash Gold restaurants, said he has not heard from any business owners who have complained about the building.

"There is absolutely no fact behind that whatsoever," he said. "I have talked to multiple businesses and board members of the Corktown Business Association and Corktown Economic Growth Association. Everyone wants historic rehabilitation. There might be a business owner out there who might say (they want it demolished), but I can't find anyone."

Amy Elliott Bragg, president of the nonprofit Preservation Detroit board of directors, said in an email that the building should not be demolished.

“The past decade of commercial redevelopment on Michigan Avenue has been based on the reuse of its existing buildings,” she said. “Demolishing the CPA Building would quite simply be a waste of an existing building that should instead be reused and redeveloped. The real estate market in Corktown is strong enough that if the property owners aren’t able to redevelop it, they should have no problem selling it to someone who is."

Sequoia purchased the building and the block surrounding it in May 2014 for $900,000.

Sequoia, owned by Vivek Garipalli and Robert Zalkin, told Crain's in a statement after it purchased the vacant building that it wants "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."

Ari Heckman, CEO of ASH NYC, which is redeveloping the Wurlitzer Building downtown into a new boutique hotel, said in an email to Crain’s shortly after this story was published that he would buy the building to spare it from demolition.

“It would be terrible if that building was demolished," he said. "If there are no environmental or structural issues, we would buy it from them at a fair market value immediately and redevelop it.”

David Di Rita, principal of Detroit-based developer The Roxbury Group, echoed that his company would also be willing to buy the building to prevent demolition. Razing it is "entirely unnecessary," he said.

Community members expressed outrage about razing the building, even starting a petition in opposition.

The CPA had been on the market for more than 11 years prior to its sale, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.

It was designed by Alvin Harley, one of the founders of the architecture firm that later became Harley Ellis Devereaux Corp., which is based in Southfield.

Online records list the demolition company as Den-Man Contractors Inc., based in Warren.

Last year, Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the "Hope" image for President Barack Obama's campaign, put a mural on the side of the CPA Building.