A planned online auction of a large downtown Detroit office complex has been scrapped after a potential buyer came forward.

The Executive Office Plaza property had been set to be auctioned off May 5 but Birmingham-based Blackacre Management LLC is now proposing to purchase it for a little more than $5 million, Dalen Hanna, one of the company’s executives, confirmed to Crain’s.

The potential sale of the complex, sometimes referred to as the Detroit Office Plaza, to Blackacre was first reported by the Detroit Free Press Thursday.

A deal has not closed, and any sort of future plans for the complex that straddles downtown and Corktown just south of Michigan Avenue have not yet been determined, said Hanna and Maha Banno, managing partner of Blackacre.

The Executive Office Plaza property has been under the control of Farmington Hills-based Farbman Group, which is acting as receiver following a loan default that sent its ownership to court with its lender.

The vacant complex has 613,000 square feet across an 11-story south tower and a 21-story north tower sitting on about two acres. There is also a 13-story center core. The listing also includes some land next door. The auction had originally been scheduled for March 17-19 but was later moved back to May 5-7.

Hanna said the company is “looking at a lot of different possibilities” and that “nothing’s off the table.”

“We’re excited to take on a Detroit project of this scale — especially in Corktown, with its momentum and history,” Banno said in an email. “The site sits right at the edge of the central business district, with direct Lodge access and incredible riverfront views. It’s a rare location with huge potential.”

“At over 600,000 square feet across nearly 10 acres, the site presents all the typical challenges of converting outdated office space into something new. Environmental issues, infrastructure upgrades, financing — it’s all in play. But this is exactly what Blackacre does best.”

Hanna and Banno are also working on a large redevelopment of downtown Pontiac’s tallest building, the 185-foot Oakland Towne Center tower located at 28 N. Saginaw St., into 114 apartments, with four penthouses on the top floor. That project clocks in over $17 million, and Hanna said Blackacre is expecting a summer opening and full completion of all the spaces by the fall. 

The Executive Office Plaza property last sold in May 2005 for $6.3 million. In the past several years, its ownership has faced financial difficulties.

In November 2023, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge overseeing a receivership case for the property signed off on selling it to an entity called PMN Partners Holdings Co. LLC, but that plan ultimately collapsed. People familiar with the matter at the time said the working vision was to turn some of the property into a national hotel, along with residential and retail space.

Court documents at the time said PMN Partners Holdings was connected to Paul Stann, a Denver developer. The purchase price at that time was $16.5 million.

Farbman Group was hired to oversee the office complex after owner 1200 Sixth Street LLC defaulted on a $10.3 million loan from Orange County, Calif.-based lender M360 Advisors, according to Wayne County Circuit Court records.

The circuit court complaint, filed in February 2023, said that with interest and other fees, the total owed on the 2017 loan was about $17.96 million. That includes principal of $14.93 million, which includes additional advances to the owners beyond the $10.3 million loan, interest of $2.7 million, late fees of $170,200 and a forbearance fee of $150,000, the lawsuit said.