Justin Arens, one of the defendants charged with setting fire to an abandoned building on South University Avenue in October plead no contest yesterday at his pretrial conference at Washtenaw County Circuit Court.

Arens, 21, voluntarily plead no contest after making a plea agreement with the prosecutor, Karen Field. At his sentencing, which will take place on Feb. 22., he could face up to 10 years in prison for the felony charge of arson of real property, a decrease from the original 20 years for arson of personal property.

Arens was arrested in December in connection with the fire that gutted the former Pinball Pete’s location and caused minor damage to the nearby University Towers apartment complex and Momo Tea.

Arens was initially charged with arson of personal property but when he appeared in court for his preliminary exam last month Field asked the charge be changed to arson of real property exceeding $20,000. Field argued that because the building was abandoned at the time of the fire, the case was better covered under arson of real property.

At the same court appearance last month, Field said Arens often slept in the building and knew others often slept there as well, but he disregarded the danger to others when setting the fire, which began at 11 p.m. on Oct. 24.

Arens’ lawyer Raymond Mullins, asked Judge J. Simpson to lower Arens’ bond from $100,000 at the December court appearance, but the request was denied after Field objected, noting Arens past criminal history.

Arens has been previously convicted of home invasion, retail fraud and a juvenile conviction of assault with intention to commit criminal sexual conduct.

Though Arens's mother said at the time that she was willing to post a lower bond and keep him in her home, Simpson denied the request saying that Arens could be “detrimental to the safety of the community.”

Ian MacKenzie, Arens’ co-defendant, plead not guilty to three counts of arson when he appeared in court on Jan. 4 for his pretrial conference, which was rescheduled for Jan. 25.