Dearborn has been seriously affected by the American auto industry collapse, home foreclosures and the terrible recession, which has resulted in us losing 60,000 white collar auto jobs further hurting our business districts, especially downtown west Dearborn. Meanwhile no new developers are approaching us to develop in downtown west Dearborn and projects approved during better times, now require going back to the drawing board.
One developer is requesting a one-year extension of the preferred developer agreement with the City of Dearborn; that is Hakim Fakhoury’s – Dearborn Village Partners (DVP). The DVP project is proposed on the north side of Michigan Avenue between Military and Howard. DVP is planning a three story building with first floor retail and a bowling alley, a second and third floor movie theater offering food and alcohol, along with other amenities. In cooperation with HFCC and U of M - Dearborn, plans also include 2 - 4 bedroom college dorm housing, which could have a very positive impact.In order to satisfy proposed DVP tenants and loan companies, a one year extension of the preferred developer agreement is necessary so that DVM can submit revised plans for this project. The agreement would guarantee that for one year the City of Dearborn would not market that lot to anyone and allow DVP to market and develop the property and lots. There is no cost to the City of Dearborn or the taxpayers to extend this agreement.
Mr. Fakhoury and his companies have invested multi-millions into downtown west Dearborn, he is one of the largest developers and property owners and this is an attractive opportunity at a time when there simply are not any other options; except to do nothing. No developers returned proposals on the Quality Inn property controlled by the Dearborn Historic Museum.
Without this one year extension of DVM’s preferred developer agreement, this project would collapse at a time we cannot afford to allow this to happen.
Therefore, I am planning to support the extension to DVP based on the proposed project, current economic conditions and facts presented to the Council by DVP, the Mayor and the Administration; as well as the important point that we have no other viable alternatives at this time.
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33 comments:
With all due respect, Bob is nuts! Fakhoury has squandered his opportunities in this city. He has failed, and I guarantee Tafelski will fight this like a pit bull.
Fakhoury has single-handedly ruined west Dearborn. His developments are JUNK in my opinion. A blight on this town. His plan for this theater complex will sit empty like every other piece of garbage he has built. Someone needs to stand up for Dearborn and put a stop to this!
Oh boy. Something like this could even wake up our old pal LX!
You are all wrong people. Hakim Fakhoury has been a savyor to this town. It is crazy to say that his buildings are not good. They are brand new! Who else brings new buikdings to Dearborn??? Answer that question? You should be glad he wants his money in the city!
Anon - Hope this does wake up LX, nothing else seems to work.
Anonymous 2, it's obvious you're drinking Fakhoury's Kool-Aid, but it's hard for me to imagine anyone in their right mind thinking his developments are good for the city. He's driving out the few tenants he has (Village Framing, etc) and has not been able to attract any decent businesses to his ugly 'new buildings.' I tend to side with Councilman Abraham on many issues, but not this one.
Who else is asking to put money in this city?? Let them step up and put their money where their mouth is. Until then, Hakim is the only guy in town who has the nuggets to take a chance on this town.
This is another April Fools joke post, right? Please tell me a member of City Council is not recommending we give this flim flam artist PREFERRED status! Wake me up from this nightmare please.
Dearborn deserves what Dearborn prefers.
Councilmen Abraham is brilliant.
I think it's brilliantly written. This Mr. Abraham has a real way with words.
@michael J Elblano
I heard Michael Albano had wrote this 'open' letter LOL
Apparently Mr. Abrham is too lazy to do some basic Googling.
If he would take maybe 5 minutes, he could google, or look in "The Counter Project--Chatter" Message Board and uncover some interesting facts:
1) Fakhoury was/is facing federal rackteering charges from 2007---no resolution is published. His co-defendants read like a list of Michigan's Most Wanted
2) SEVEN of his Michigan Avenue area properties are in tax-delinquent foreclosure for non payment.
Perhaps potential national/regional tenants would rather deal with a professional, like say Ford Land Development, instead of Fakhoury.
Sure he's spent some money. He has in fact overpaid for property that other, viable, but less well-funded owners who very likely could have provided the city with, if nothing else, some diversity.
Sorry Mr. Abrham, your argument is naive, short-sighted, curiously biased, and most of all, emblematic of your laziness.
dozer
I hope things get better for Michigan Ave.
Kitty, We all hope things get better, but giving lousy developers like Fakhoury and Burton Katzman free reign to do whatever they like with our downtown has got to stop. It's time for the city to develop a plan and stick to it.
New does not equate to good. The buildings he has built are cheap, generic kitsch just like the BK development. The concepts for his future buildings are even worse looking, cartoonish in their garishness.
Physical appearances aside it would be a joke to extend his preferred developer status. He can't even fill up what he has now. How's that Caliente Grill or Fat Burger coming along? Does Councilman Abraham remember the excruciatingly long time it took to even complete the current buildings?
Then there's the issue of tearing down the Vic Tanny and Giuliano buildings. He wanted Brownfield tax credit money. He got his Brownfield tax credit along with DFCU across the street. DFCU tore down the Mercury Motel in April of 2008. Nearly two years later Mr. Fakhoury's buildings are still standing even after construction was supposed to start in 2008.
Check out these two articles.
http://welcomehomedearborn.com/uploads/files/29-Vacant_tux_shop_to_be_razed_as_first_step_in_new_projects.pdf
http://welcomehomedearborn.com/uploads/files/30-Developments_on_horizon.pdf
Then there's the foreclosures.
Sure he's put money into downtown west Dearborn. It's just too bad he can't seem to run his developments well.
I'm afraid that all we'll get out of a one year extension is the further deterioration of buildings that should have been gone nearly two years ago and a request for another extension.
dozer can you link to the message board you're referenceing?
Paul makes such a great point! New is not always better and something isn't always better than something. I'd prefer the Mercury Motel over the empty field on Mich and Military. But I'll take that empty field over the ugly development Fakhoury put in across the street. What's that style called...'New Orleans Drywall?' Was Lowe's having a light fixture sale that week?? All those exterior lamps look silly. It's just one more reason businesses have refused to move in.
The city has made mistakes with shady developers before, I think it's time to walk away from this one while we still have a few decent buildings left in our town.
Any way to find out how much DVP and Fakhoury contributed to Abraham's campaign chest?
I meant to say 'something isn't always better than nothing' in the above post. I stand by the rest of my rant.
Amazing that after all of these years on the council, this is the best idea that Abraham can come with.
On the brighter side, let Fakhoury
have another year. He won't do anything with it - just like he hasn't done anything with it for the past 4 years. I agree that he has made the area a ghost town. Most of his former tenants have left under not-so-friendly parting of the ways. Talk to some of them and you could learn a lot about his non-ethical business practices. The only thing that will come of another year is fodder for this column. If he couldn't do anything in a good economy, what does Abraham think he will do now? Out of curiousity, where is the money coming from. He doesn't have enough for his taxes nor to take down the eye sores that he owns now? Makes you wonder. Doesn't it?
Mr. Abraham is entitled to his opinion. I certainly haven't been a participant in any dealings with Fakhoury, and I suspect many on here have not either.
However, one doesn't have to look too far locally to find another developer with whom a comparison can be made: Ford Land Development. There simply is no comparison as to the professionalism, dedication, and character of the people in that organization.
If Dearborn officials somehow had the ability to replace Fakhoury with FLD as preferred developer, we could all breathe a sigh of relief as sanity was restored. Fakhoury has had his opportunity to use the citizens as guinea pigs in his game of Monopoly; enough is enough.
How about Mr. Abraham make a call to FLD and seek some help?
To dismiss the facts relating to Federal Criminal charges and tax foreclosures facing Fakhoury and to simply embrace the lowest common denominator is pointless and self-defeating.
Clearly there is a history here; facts from which determinations can be made as to the future of the development within our city. There are also consequences for your actions; if Fakhoury has broken the rules, he should not be rewarded, he should be admonished.
Newman and Fakhoury have done very little, in spite of the economy, to bring creative, cooperative projects to the table. Without progress, even the best tenants in the area will disappear. It is my understanding that Baileys, Chelios, and Double Olive are all for sale.
One only has to visit Warren Avenue, perhaps Shatila, to see what kind of potential the west side has...foot traffic, retail, commercial and residential development successfully created in spite of dealing with City Hall's red tape.
Abraham's monologue reflects an all to common unevolved mindset that gurantees failure.
dozer
"Follow the Money"--might I suggest a day trip to the Wayne County Clerk's Elections Office, where you will be able to peruse campaign finance records of Dearborn city council members and other local officials, as well as candidates who ran but didn't make it.
Although the records don't show everything (i.e. kickbacks handed to someone in a paper bag or whatever they use now), they are real eye openers.
Make sure to call first though and find out the filing deadlines for these campaign records.
Afterwards, take the People Mover to Greektown where you might rub shoulders with the Detroit crooks...
Happy hunting.
Right on, Dozer. I hope the rest of our councilpeople read your post! It looks like Abraham is a lost cause.
@Campaign Researcher
might I add the MGM, more 'mover & shakers' there
At a time when many of us who don't watch council meetings and don't know what most council members do, think or vote on, I give credit to Councilman Abraham for keeping us informed and taking some visible stances on issues such as the Fakhoury Muirhead project.
Despite the reservations some may have with Fakhoury due to some past short comings on some of his projects, at a time when no one else is proposing anything in Downtown West Dearborn at least he's stepping up and proposing something.
Like him or not, I read many reasons Abraham has given us as to why council should support this project. Other than it being a viable, attractive project, despite what some have stated on here, there are no other developers willing to develop squat in Downtown West and should Fakhoury's preferred developer agreement be extended, at least there is hope and the fact that to complete it Dearborn would have to be paid any back taxes he owes.
What more can we ask?
Well, we can ask why his other projects have not been attractive or viable. We can ask him why he doesn't maintain the properties he already owns. Why would anyone expect this project to be any different from his other projects? I can't think of anyone less deserving of 'Preferred' status in this town.
So, does this mean Dearborn has narrowed the field of candidates for the title of "Preferred Money Launderer?"
Perhaps if there was another prefered developer, then there would be other options, but there aren't. The downtown is failling apart rapidly, so something is better than nothing.
I think that Fakhoury's lousy developments and business practices have not only hastened West Dearborn's downfall, but they may have helped cause it. It's time for Dearborn to reject this company and move on.
So the plan is: a movie theater and student apartments. (as published today in deepsaidwhat)
Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't the Dearborn theater now vacant? And why is that? Demographics? Netflix and home theaters?
I don't know the answer, maybe the Dearborn just got tired and non-competitive...but it seems to me the demographics west of Telegraph, while slightly different, must be similar to those east of it.
As a side note, how many remember the Calvin theater? History does repeat itself, eh?
Am I missing something or is there really a pent-up demand for student housing in Dearborn?
Show us the stats please. Are these students going to drive to school? If so that's 600 kids and say 50% have cars=300 cars to park.
And then there's parking for the movies...has anyone ever seen the parking at Fairlane when the shows are busy?
Sounds like we'll need to widen Garrison and put in traffic lights to accomodate the vehicles.
Silly me, I always thought the idea of student housing was to keep it withing walking/biking distance to class. If only they had land near U of M Dearborn...wait, isn't there a big parking lot on campus they could use? At least as big as the one HK wants to build on.
No one has a crystal ball. I wonder how long the builders of the Dearborn theater expected it to survive?
It would be nice to know this monstrosity wouldn't be vacant like the Dearborn (theater) in 5, 10, 20 years, or we will be firing up the wrecking ball then too.
Where is it written that we need 4+ story buildings on Michigan avenue?
Someone give Hakim a Monopoly game for Xmas and save us from being his guinea pigs.
Before it's too late.
dozer
Dozer, I don't see demand for student housing either. The site would be 1 2/3 walking miles from the nearest class building on campus. So it will be either live at home and drive to school, which I think most at UM-D do, or pay what will probably be overpriced rent and still drive to school.
Well, looks like Abraham got his wish.
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