Dearborn Developer says ‘Dream is Over’
Resident Hakim Fakhoury says 'dream' of developing downtown Dearborn is over.
If you’ve driven along Michigan Avenue this week you probably have seen signs hanging in the windows of some of the properties owned by developer Hakim Fakhoury with the following words: “The Dream is Over. For Sale.” Many of you have even written here asking what the signs meant.
Well, we sent a note straight to the source, Mr. Fakhoury, asking if he would pen a note explaining the meaning of the signs. He provided us this article, which begins below.
My name is Hakim Fakhoury, and I had a dream…
I had a dream… that Dearborn could become one of the most vibrant downtowns in Michigan.
I had a dream… that the city I have lived in nearly my whole life would be the place where I could invest the fruits of all my hard work.
I had a dream… that Dearborn’s leader would open their arms to a developer that is home-grown and seeks to make a better future for our city for generations to come.
I had a dream… that our mayor and city council could put aside personal and political differences, that petty political infighting would not cause the development of our city to come to a standstill. The inability of our leaders to have a vision has caused us to lag behind other cities, and make us unable to fully transition into the 21st century.
I had a dream… that our leaders would be smart to know what they don’t know, that they would hire professionals to develop master plans, that they would end corruption, the “old boys” network, an breathe new life into our community.
I had a dream… that we could redevelop our downtown into something that would appeal to everyone, attracting fresh young minds to make our city vibrant, livable, fun, and modern.
I had a dream… that I could buy buildings and then, in agreement with city officials, transform our city.
I had a dream… that the mayor and city council members would not lie, that they would be honest, that they would not manipulate each other, or play petty games, or include me in their internal feuds, and just be mature, with the city’s interests, and only the city’s interests, at the core of their decision-making.
I had a dream… but now the DREAM IS OVER for me… My hope is that another developer with come along, buy all my properties, pick up on my hard work, and move to develop the district…
March 10th, 2010 at 10:49 am
I have a dream and it has come true.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:19 am
He’s right about the mayor and council not really having even a basic understanding of how to lay the groundwork for a functional and vibrant city. They are constantly looking backward rather than forward and as a result are always several steps behind everyone else in the region.
Although there certainly has been bickering between Hakim and the city the fault is on both parties. To say he has been mistreated is a total exaggeration. The city extended preferred developer status to him. The city helped him secure his brownfield tax credits. The city has ignored the piles of trash around his buildings. He still owes tens of thousands in back taxes for at least 2008/2009 on several of his properties. The city implemented paid parking partially to appease him (and BK). Later he blamed paid parking for his problems and threatened to sue the city to remove the system. He seems to have driven away more tenants from his properties than he has brought into his properties.
So yes the mayor and council are clueless but to say he’s been grossly mistreated seems to be, as I said, a complete exaggeration of the truth.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:47 am
so he’s selling all of his stuff? what about Newman? what, if anything, can be done about him and the empty spaces?
March 10th, 2010 at 11:52 am
I have a dream…that all of those millions in kickbacks/hush money/bribes in offshore accounts will be FEDex’d back to Dearborn in U.S. dollars—well, maybe gold bullion…
March 10th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
We all have dreams. Having spoken to some of your former tenants, you, obviously, didn’t share in theirs.
The old saying “what goes around, comes around” might apply here.
Karma can be a B**ch.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
And there where 3 people running for city council that have great business experience and from what I could tell, “could not be bought!” Bazy, D’Ambr, and Kiernan. Like i said about this city. No layalty!!! Too bad for us! I did not agree with everything Hakim did, or tried to do, but he gave it a try and put up with alot of sh$#. Gave out some too. Better luck to the next person. If there will be one. Good luck selling those properties. We have a council that does not have a clue on how to run a business. And guess what? The city is big business. Run it like one. Make the cut backs to get threw these trying times. Grow some balls and use them. Make decisions that will earn the peoples respect. Because right now you do not have it. Being elected doesn’t give you respect in my book. You must earn it!! Start earning it!!
March 10th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Hakim you indeed have been screwed over. Its no secret Big Jack hates you, and uses you as a crutch every chance he gets,however don’t give up, if you do all our people will go down too, and we can’t let him do that to us.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Now maybe the City of Dearborn can move forward!!! Let’s not blow this chance. We need to take back our city and rebuild it. Dearborn can become a great ” go to city” once again.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
HAKIM,
MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE SUSAN BOYLE COME TO DEARBORN AND SING FOR YOU.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
The City is extraordinarily short sighted when it comes to doing business….and on the residential and commercial side, Dearborn’s building department has been tainted by bribery, theft, corruption, you name it.
Dearborn is one of the only cities in the area that chooses — instead of working with potential homeowners or investors — to levy HUGE escrows on foreclosed homes, therefore making it virtually impossible that some of these will ever be inhabited by tax paying citizens again.
This is especially true for older homes built before 1950–once the home is empty for 6 months or longer, the city chooses to abide by a state code that requires the entire structure to meet new construction codes (this is a code that most of the surrounding cities choose to overlook, wisely). This means they put 50-60K escrows against 15K foreclosures.
And our brilliant city planner claims that part of the master plan is to demolish some of these homes and split the resulting empty lot for the next door neighbors. But no thought was given as to whether the neighbors could afford an additional 6-10K and the resulting increased taxes (which I’m sure Dearborn will rush right out and raise once your lot is bigger).
Bottom line? Dearborn city government is sadly out of touch with both the state economy and the economic status of its citizens. And the blight will continue to grow, driving more residents and businesses out. Wake up, O’Reilly. Things are going rapidly downhill with you at the helm.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
What a mess this turned out to be for Hakim and the city. It’s just too bad that we will never know the REAL story in back of all of this – I am sure that there is plenty of blame to go around. Another step backward for Dearborn.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Hay Abe Why is Hakim head of your people? And what people our you talking about? Are we not all americans here?
March 10th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
WOW, I’m not impressed! Who REALLY wrote that for Hakim?? I know he didn’t. He does not have the ability to write with such depth. He has been shallow in all his endeavors, including trying to move forward with his developements. When he doesn’t get his own way he cries like a baby, have some puffs and move on. Cloe is right, what goes around comes around….karma is a beautiful thing!
March 10th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Fat Jack needs to step away from the dining room table and walk the downtown its a total disgrace. Orvillel Hubbard Dearborn needs you back!
March 10th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Abe- If you look at the Warren Avenue business district, you will see thriving businesses run by, as you say. “your people”. It is an area full of hard working, great people who, obviously, don’t agree with the work ethics that you and Hakim adhere to.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
While I’m disappointed Hakim is moving on, I think his plan for the Emagine movie theater for West Dearborn is still a great idea. I hope the next developer will break ground on this project by year’s end. In fact, if Burton-Katzman has been ordered to break ground on some nebulous building between the two parking decks, perhaps it might be the Emagine Theater. Or am I just “emagining” things?
March 10th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
I agree with Chery. I have 3 friends that had bids accepted in Dearborn that they turned down because of the ridiculous escrows. They are all hard working, tax paying, American consumers and all bought elsewhere
March 10th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
“I had a dream”…What a bunch of gratuitous, self-indulgent crap. That posting was not an “explanation”, it was a manifesto. Can we sum it up like this? “I had a dream of striking it rich by rolling the dice as a would-be real estate developer and lost. It looked so easy when others did it, but now that I realize I’m unable to pull it off because of a lack of capital, investors, experience and an inability to bring people around to my way of thinking through diplomacy and politics, I want to blame everyone else but the man in the mirror. I was entitled to success and other people took it away from me because they refused to defer to my messianic, narcissistic brilliance and superior business acumen and instead chose to wallow in their own ignorance.”
March 11th, 2010 at 9:48 am
in talking to my hair dresser (yes in dearborn) last night, she said the city is giving her and her family all kinds of grief about buying foreclosed houses, making it virtually impossible to do so. don’t you think the city would WANT them purchased and not left vacant? and the inspectors are a joke. they give you sh*t when you want to improve your property but when you sell, they don’t inspect at all. I had a private inspector to show me things like the electrical wires coming out of the box were completely frayed.
so it’s too bad about Hakim and I agree, the city is very short sited
March 11th, 2010 at 10:50 am
giving grief for buying forclosed housES… that sounds like they want to rent them out..good for the city those homes should be bought to be primary residents. We DONT need anymore RENTERS! As far as Fakhoury is concerned it sounds like someone is in a panic because he cant come up with the tax money he collected and then failed to pay Wayne County and he will lose those properties soon! AND to the City and store owners….CLEAN UP MICHIGAN AVENUE SIDEWALKS AND STORE FRONTS THEY LOOK LIKE SH**!
March 11th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Becki, there where people running for council that wanted to change the way the city handles foreclosed homes, but the voters keep the same ol hasbeens in. Oh, one new one that is in Telfelski’s back pocket.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Always follow the money – the rest is window dressing. The trigger – the Brownfield money. Once so designated, the law requires the developer to put up or get out. Its obvious (look at the tax delinquencies, including his house) that HF never had the money to make these dreams of his a reality. With the state of the economy, no one with a brain (eg Burton Katzman) is putting any money into commercial development in an aging, inner ring suburb with the financial demographics surrounding West Dearborn. Sad, but the bankers are not throwing money away this year.
HF was just putting the best face on it by cut & pasting Wiki’s copy of the MLK speech.
“Forget about it Jake – its just Dearborntown.”
March 11th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Well at least we can go to Sangria, er, wait. No, the Armani store maybe? Caliente Grill?? Give me a minute….
True it was interesting (for lack of a better word) to watch one man invest “his” money in “his” city. There does not seem to be a long line of individuals ready to step in and replace Mr. Fakhoury.
Then again, if the numbers make sense (oh what an “if”), there are ample developers who may consider taking on development in West Dearborn ….that is if they can stomach the run-around that represents dealings with our so-called leaders.
So Fakhoury is, after all, not Trump. Or is he? Time will tell.
I cannot help but hear Martin Luther King’s voice as I read the Fakhoury manifesto…I wonder if that was his inspiration.
It is never suprising when hubris and karma collide.
Predictions for the rest of 2010 vis a vis West Dearborn anyone??
dozer
March 11th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Hakim’s problem started when he did not pay the fee to joe beydoun for the ex-mayor. Alot of work got the blessing and completed when the correct palms where greased. Joe beydoun a.k.a. Sam Riddle, Mike Guido a.k.a. Kwame Kilpatrick, Dearborn a.k.a. Detroit, ….do ya’ll get it yet? The town still has people in place who don’t have a clue on how to develope a business district. Trust me, Hakim has/had issues but not nearly as many as alot of the “stand-up honest” business leaders i dealt with. Oh, how did the old Corner Copia (michigan & oakwood) become ready for lease, last i knew it was written up to be demo’d and nothing has been done to it since! Maybe that report got lost!
March 11th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Dear just saying, i used to tag all my notices and reports with “Clean and maintain exterior of property” That used to get plenty of phone calls from all the good folks for “intimidation and harressment”! This city has gone to hell! Complain all you want but until you live the incompetance (working there) you’ll never understand it. Don’t totally blame the peon’s, the leaders are driving the bus!
March 11th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Hakim just found out what us long time residents have seen for years,Dearborn machine politics preventing the city from moving forward.
One day the people in this town will wake up and see that the only thing the Mayor cares about is padding the pockets of himself and his cronies and his henchmen in management positions,the minute something goes south then he starts throwing people under the bus,sound familiar?
Right now the make-shift governments set up in Iraq and Afghanistan are run better than the City of Dearborn,and i can guarantee there is less corruption in the Afghan government than in this Cities!
Pretty sad when the future of Afghanistan is brighter than the future of Dearborn.
Get nervous Jack,the Tea Party is coming.
March 12th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Tea Party – where do we sign up?
March 12th, 2010 at 9:57 am
“just saying”, what is wrong with renters? wouldn’t you rather have ANYONE in a house than it being vacant? who is taking care of the foreclosed properties around you?
March 12th, 2010 at 10:52 am
It is amazing to me that there is so much complaining so soon after an election that kept all but one of the same people. I wrote, before the election, that if we didn’t speak out with our votes, we had no right to complain after the election.
Well, the majority spoke. They are satisfied with things the way they are.
That doesn’t mean that we cannot change things, but, just talking on blogs isn’t going to get the job done. If you have problems, take them up with the people in charge of that problem. The rusty clogs get the oil. Complain, complain, complain and maybe, some things will get fixed.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:56 am
With all due respect to Shady, et al, City Hall has had a massive federal investigation ongoing for several years, and absolutely no evidence of the “padded pockets” of the Mayor and his team has emerged. Question – don’t you think the Feds just might have found something if all there was any truth to these allegations? Sure, this administration has its favorites – show me one that doesn’t. That doesn’t mean that the Mayor is corrupt, and one might re-consider the wisdom of slandering a reputation with charges of criminal behavior, without evidence.
All of this is a distraction from the real issue – a developer has abandoned a blighted stretch of real estate right in the middle of downtown. Covering his tracks with platitudes and bitter recriminations – putting up signs that prove the nature of his character. He is no different than the underwater homeowner who tosses the keys in the living room and walks away. I’ve lived next to such folks, and its obvious a mile a way why he is acting out – so he isn’t asked any hard questions. Like when and how are you going to pay your taxes? I smell default, and it ain’t pretty.
In the end – this is about the money. Fact – HF never had enough to begin with to pull this off. Fact – once people saw the developments he was proposing for investment – no one with a brain was interested. So maybe the real mistake was ever pretending that he had a viable plan – as opposed to a pipe dream – in the first place.
Some “preferred developer.”
March 12th, 2010 at 11:49 am
“The Dream is Over” signs irritate me because if you are REALLY trying to sell your property you don’t advertise how bad it is…the dream is over…I can’t get tenants to rent……so why don’t you buy from me so that you also can’t get tenants…..and will have a horrible time with the city government. Usually if you REALLY want to sell your property, you talk about/advertise how GOOD your property is. That would be the equivalent of me trying to sell my home and saying the neighbors suck, the ceiling is falling down etc.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
” what is wrong with renters? wouldn’t you rather have ANYONE in a house than it being vacant?”
Renter typically don’t care for the property as do homeowners. Garbage collects, stuff get’s left laying around, etc.
Vacant properties on the other hand, don’t have these problems. Sure the grass grows and the sidewalk needs shoveling, but that takes all of 5 minutes to correct, by, you know Becki, DOING IT YOURSELF.
Renters slowly but surely lower the value of the property and likewise all the ones around it. In the 2000 census, roughly 20% of all Dearborn homes were rentals. I suspect this years will be much higher.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I have a few empty homes that have been maintained by the real estate company or bank because they have been shoveled and maintained throughout the seasons, however, the couple of renters have not and one trashed the once well groomed home they are living in… the yard looks like a dumping ground and the landscaping looks like they let everything die and become over-grown. As soon as they get evicted they trash the home and it becomes an eyesore! Thats just been my experience and my opinion. So yes I would rather see it be empty because someone is still paying the taxes, and the city has an ordinance that if the property owner does not take care of it they will send someone to do it for a fee and tack on a lein on the property if it doesn’t get paid.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
I have to say that i agree with all of you on some of your points,t-dog is right about HK not having the funding to begin with,but just because the Feds do not legally find corruption doesn’t mean corrupt things aren’t happening in other ways. Politicians are notorious for what i call “legal corruption”. Take a look at whats going on in Washington and the corrupt congress,they pass bills that benefit them and their lobbyist friends. Take a look at who the Mayor has either promoted,protected or appointed and then see if their wages have all increased while he is talking about service cuts. Look into city superintendents and see how many have just got big wage increases while the mayor talks about city service cuts.
This November nationally will be an indication of what is going to happen in dearborn in the next elections,long term machine politician incumbents are going to be voted out!
Dona Hay,are you ready to join the new Dearborn Tea Party movement?….anyone else ready?
March 12th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I KNEW YOUR DREAM WAS OVER WHEN I DROVE DOWN DIX AND SEEN THE GENERATOR RUNNIN AT THE A & W.
P.S IS THERE ENOUGH WATTS IN THE GENERATOR TO GET US A ROOT BEER FLOAT?
March 12th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
The feds’ “massive investigation” of city hall is just starting to yield results, and I will bet the disgraced building department employees who have just started serving their jail terms haven’t sung like birds to the investigators.
Trust me, the feds take their time and it’s not over yet.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Oops! That should read “have sung like birds”
March 13th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Tea Party, no I am not ready to sign up I was just wonder how far you were going with this.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:45 am
Hakim, as well as the B & S employees are still trying to work out better deals, watch out Dave Norwood and Cascardo it is not over yet. Believe me Jack you know what we the people have been thinking for a long time, and its going to come to fruition shortly.
March 14th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Chery Kohs said:
“Dearborn is one of the only cities in the area that chooses — instead of working with potential homeowners or investors — to levy HUGE escrows on foreclosed homes, therefore making it virtually impossible that some of these will ever be inhabited by tax paying citizens again.
This is especially true for older homes built before 1950–once the home is empty for 6 months or longer, the city chooses to abide by a state code that requires the entire structure to meet new construction codes (this is a code that most of the surrounding cities choose to overlook, wisely). This means they put 50-60K escrows against 15K foreclosures. ”
I bought one of the rare foreclosures in W. Dbn. approximately 5 years ago & let me tell you “The Dream Is Over”! I now have about $200k into a house worth 1/2 that & I still can’t get B & S to issue me a C of O, even with all the requirements met. They treated me like a criminal every step of the way, that is back when I could even get anyone to talk to me. There’s only one decent person in that dept. I ever met, but apparently he’s given up on trying to help me, too. This experience has caused me to truly HATE this city, at least city hall & I am looking forward to leaving. I would not ever buy in this town again & I have told my horror stories to anyone who will listen.
March 14th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
As a new resident of the city – who at least bought here knowing full well about the problems of local government, in part to this fantastic blog – I can’t help but feel this is a good thing. I’d much rather have the buildings owned piecemeal than be under the umbrella of a group like DVP that seems uninterested in getting tenants into its buildings. Whoever said, “Now how do we get Newman to fold?” has got my vote.
I mean, it really says something about developers when so many of their properties are vacant. Sure, times are hard, but times are hard everywhere, and look at Allen Park. Sure, Dearborn doesn’t have the demographic advantage of a Royal Oak, but neither should it be so commercially vacant as it is.
Not that I think the city government is on the right track. Dearborn appears to be uniquely hostile to anything resembling individual entrepreneurship – their only regional rival might be Detroit.
When small businesses – for instance, the lady behind the new sandwich shop on Military – try to make themselves successful, the city does everything in their power to shut them down. Yet they let DVP string them along for years with pipe dreams and apparently shoddy finances, while allowing them to neglect perfectly good buildings in prime frontage until they’re eyesores.
It seems pretty obvious what the city needs to do: encourage and support individuals to take healthy risks in creating new businesses; encourage landlords to be somewhat lenient or at least not the scrooges our local bunch seems to be; discourage unproven developers from buying up half the town; and provide a sane, rational environment where people can satisfy city requirements and get back to, you know, making money.
Any sane person recognizes that the city government is a big part of the city’s problems. I question whether our local leaders do. Until I see much more aggressive change internally in the city government, I won’t be convinced.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
It’s too bad any time when economic conditions destroy people’s hard work and livelihood. So sorry Hakim. With that said, I believe it is unfortunate the development turned West Dearborn into a giant conglomeration of strip malls. The downtown has certainly lost character and interest as the same facade, same design, same brick is used everywhere. While East Dearborn needs a little help too (Schaefer could look a whole lot better north or Michigan), I certainly hope we don’t destroy the rich character of our architecture. While much has been done in West Dearborn, it is very stale. New isn’t alway attractive.