The owner of the historic but troubled 47-story Penobscot Building downtown has accumulated more than $86,000 in judgments and fines from 157 code violations, the vast majority in the last month, the city says.

Now Detroit's law department is working on a nuisance abatement lawsuit to compel Toronto-based owner Triple Properties Inc. to fix a host of issues like rodent infestation, solid waste buildup and unsafe conditions in the nearly 1 million-square-foot tower at 645 Griswold St.

Last month, the city said it was planning to enter a consent agreement with Triple Properties to bring it into compliance with city code within an undetermined time frame, but the company has not yet signed it.

Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department Chief Enforcement Officer Jessica Parker said in a statement: "Unfortunately, the owners of the building have been non-responsive to our proposed consent agreement and the Law Department is now preparing a nuisance lawsuit to seek a remedy through the courts. In the meantime, city inspectors have continued to issue blight violations totaling more than $80,000."

This year, there have been 136 tickets totaling $74,750 in fines, with 130 of them ($71,450 in fines) coming since Feb.17, when the city began ramping up enforcement efforts, according to data provided by the city Friday.

Prior to Jan. 1, the building was cited 21 times for a total of $11,980 in fines.

Tickets are for things like lacking a certificate of compliance, rodent infestation, accumulation of solid waste, having interior debris, and unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

"While the matter is before the courts it would be inappropriate for us to comment," Steve Apostolopoulos, managing member of Triple Properties, said Friday in a text message.

Five months ago, it was announced that the iconic, 568-foot tower topped by a red globe is losing Strategic Staffing Solutions, its second-largest tenant, which is moving to the Fisher Building in the New Center area. In late January, WDIV-TV (Channel 4) reported on what it called "parts of the building (that) are in disarray and could be a danger to workers" based on photos sent to the television station.

Also in January, a small fire forced the evacuation of the building. No one was reported injured.

While the downtown core's array of midrises, high-rises and skyscrapers have received hundreds of millions of dollars worth of renovations in recent years to accommodate new and growing office users, comparatively little has been done with the Penobscot Building, which opened more than 90 years ago.

The owner has previously said that improvements have been made to things including elevators, windows and HVAC systems.

In 2012, Triple Properties beat out Dan Gilbert and others in a bidding war for the Penobscot, paying just $4.8 million cash, or less than $5 per square foot. That deal came just three years after Triple Properties paid a meager $583,000 for the Pontiac Silverdome property more than 30 miles north.

According to CoStar Group Inc., Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, the Penobscot Building is 57.5 percent occupied, with its largest tenant, Wayne County Friend of the Court, taking 121,000 square feet. Asking rent in the Smith, Hinchman & Grylls-designed building is $18 per square foot per year.

The Penobscot is shorter only than the 727-foot Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center on the Detroit riverfront and the 619-foot Ally Detroit Center (formerly One Detroit Center) skyscrapers, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

The Pontiac Silverdome also became blighted under Triple Properties ownership, and ultimately was the subject of an agreement in court between the company and the city that resulted in the demolition of the former Detroit Lions home. Demolition began in December 2017 with a partial implosion that initially failed. The second attempt at the implosion succeeded the following day.

The site is now expected to become an Amazon distribution facility.