This is the part that struck me: "According to the local government’s property records, the building was worth $1.6 million for tax purposes. The tax liability on the property was $46,000 a year."

Do I read this right that the owner of that building would be owing 2.875% tax per year on the market value of the building?

Because that would be in line with what I hear about US property tax and seems insane to me. At that rate you're not owning anything, you're renting. At that rate that's not the land of the free, that's a lifetime of indentured servitude.