It could be months or even years before the fate of the former Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn is known, as a legal case involving its owner plays out in Canada courts.

But already a developer has met with Dearborn Mayor John "Jack" O'Reilly, Jr. to express preliminary interest in the prominent property located near Ford Motor Co.'s world headquarters.

Mary Laundroche, director of public information for the city of Dearborn, declined to identify the developer or to comment on whether the group's plans involve renovating the 772-room hotel — something experts have estimated would run more than $50 million — or other plans such as converting the hotel into housing or razing it and building something new.

The city of Dearborn remains open to proposals for future uses of the property, Laundroche said. But the city doesn't own The Edward Hotel & Convention Center, a property it shut down in mid-December for safety violations.

"From the city's point of view, it is obviously frustrating to have a landmark in limbo," Laundroche said.

Once the go-to spot for large meetings in the region, the hotel has seen business declines and a series of owners since fall 2012 when Hyatt ended its management agreement.

And ownership could shift once again.

The Canadian government has secured a restraining order to freeze the property while it prosecutes the hotel's current owner, Chinese-born businessman Xiao Hua "Edward" Gong, who lives in Toronto, on charges including fraud and money laundering, in connection with the sale of worthless stock certificates from 2012 to 2017. An October order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia approved a request from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to freeze Gong's assets in the Dearborn hotel and properties in Harvard, Ill., and Chicago, where Gong had purchased 30 floors in the Pittsfield Building, a high rise in the city's East Loop.

If the Canadian government doesn't take ownership of the property in Dearborn, the county might.

Gong owes about $1.14 million in property taxes to Wayne County, along with about $55,000 to the city of Dearborn in personal property taxes.

Of the total, $585,818 in taxes for 2017 are subject to foreclosure if they aren't paid within the next year, according to the county.