City Agrees to Demolish Three Buildings on Michigan Avenue

By a 5-1 vote, the Dearborn City Council tonight approved a one-year preferred developer extension to Dearborn developer Hakim Fakhoury.

The vote came after nearly two hours of sometimes heated discussion in the City Council’s meeting room. The lone vote against granting the extension was cast by Councilman George Darany. Councilman Doug Thomas was absent.

The former Brothers Tuxedo building at Michigan and Howard is one of three buildings the city will demolish.

As part of the vote, the city of Dearborn agreed to demolish three of Fakhoury’s buildings along Michigan Avenue. The city will be repaid for the cost when new buildings replace the old. If the project doesn’t move forward, Fakhoury ultimately would have to foot the demolition costs. The buildings include the former Bally/Vic Tanny building, the former Giuliano’s restaurant next to Merchant’s and the former Brother’s Tuxedo building at Michigan and Howard.

Demolition of those three structures is expected to begin in the spring, removing major eyesores from along Michigan Avenue.

In casting the lone dissenting vote, Darany said he didn’t have confidence Fakhoury could move the project forward. The soon-to-be second-term councilman said he’d rather the city try and find another developer for the city parking lot.

But just who that other “developer” might be that Darany mentions is anyone’s guess. One need look no further than the Burton-Katzman mess called West Village Commons that still sits half empty or the city’s inability to attract a developer to do something with the vacant, city-owned Quality Inn at Michigan and Brady. The Quality Inn property had zero responses from developers when it was put on the market, both Councilman Robert Abraham and Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., mentioned at the meeting.

There are currently three elements for the property, according to the Economic and Community Development and city law departments: student housing, a hotel and a free standing parking deck. The Emagine Theatre could be located on the Bally/Vic Tanny site.

Fatburger's corporate office is now looking more favorably at a Dearborn location.

It is the possibility of the Emagine movie theatre coming to west Dearborn that has the corporate owners of Fatburger looking more favorably to opening a Dearborn location. At the meeting Monday night were two of the principals who said they have been working with Fakhoury for more than a year to open a Fatburger in his building at Michigan and Military.

Part of the holdup for Fatburger was that the corporate offices did not think the Dearborn location had proper “numbers” to succeed. The possibility of a movie theatre has helped change that opinion.

As for the student housing, the first phase of the project would house about 244 students with a second phase that would take the total to 432 students. The first phase of this project represents about $10-$13 million of private investment, according to the city’s law department.

Dearborn resident Hakim Fakhoury, requesting a one-year preferred developer extension that his Dearborn Village Partners (DVP) corporation has with the city of Dearborn, has support from two key businesses interested in being part of his multi-million dollar project.

An early rendering of the proposed DVP project on Michigan between Military and Howard.

Fakhoury shared copies of letters with Deepsaidwhat.com that he has from Emagine,who wants to build a movie theatre in west Dearborn, and Moravian Companies, who is interested in bringing apartment living for as many as 600 students into downtown west Dearborn.

In the letters, both addressed to Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. and the City Council, the two companies urge city leaders to grant the one-year extension to Fakhoury as a preferred developer for the property along Michigan Avenue between Howard and Military.

City Council will vote on whether to extend the agreement tonight.

“Emagine Entertainment, Inc. continues to have a real and genuine interest in participating in the project,”writes Paul A. Glantz, the founder and chairman of Emagine. “That being noted, undertaking such a project, particularly in this capital market environment, is extraordinarily complex. Accordingly, governmental cooperation in a public-private partnership will be essential to a successful outcome for this property.

“The approved brownfield plan Mr. Hakim Fakhoury has secured is a tremendous asset to the project and it forms the foundation upon which other incentives and tax-based financing mechanisms will need to be layered to help bring this project to fruition.

“In my opinion, no group is better positioned to make this important project more successful than Mr. Fakhoury. Our continued interest in pursuing this project is predicated on Mr. Fakhoury’s involvement as the manager of Dearborn Village Partners and his continued cooperation as the owner of the properties along Michigan Avenue that are a vitally important component of any successful redevelopment of this parcel.”

The letter from Moravian Companies is equally supportive.

“Our team, that includes Campus Village Communities, an experienced and successful Michigan-based student housing development and management company, has been and continues working with Dearborn Village Partners on a project to bring apartment style living, for as many as 600 students, to Downtown West Dearborn,” writes Jeffrey P. Helminski, managing partner for Moravian. “The project will be a partnership involving our team, Dearborn Village Partners, U of M-Dearborn and Henry Ford Community College. This is a tremendously complex project also involving the City of Dearborn, a hotel developer, a movie theater company and Mr. Hakim Fakhoury as the owner of a significant number of properties forming the project’s marketing window along Michigan Avenue.

“ . . . Governmental cooperation in a public-private partnership will be essential to a successful outcome for this or any project on this property. The existing approvals already in place from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which were secured in partnership with the City of Dearborn, are essential to move this project forward. My understanding is that these tax credits and reimbursement opportunities are available only to Dearborn Village Partners at that location. While changes may be possible, they would seem very unlikely given the fiscal condition of the State.

“We were attracted to this particular project because of the vision and planning of Mr. Fakhoury and Dearborn Village Partners. He controls properties vital to the success of this project and his involvement as the manager of Dearborn Village Partners is important to our continuing interest. We believe this project could be a beneficial enterprise for us and the City of Dearborn in this very difficult economy.

The prospect of increasing the customer base in this vital district will greatly benefit all of the surrounding businesses and the City of Dearborn.”

Emagine, Moravian Companies and Fakhoury, at the request of O’Reilly, were scheduled to attend the Dec. 14 City Council meeting where all residents could hear first-hand about the project, but for reasons not quite clear Council President Tom Tafelski turned that idea off and requested a special study session the following day. With such short notice, Fakhoury says neither Emagine nor Moravian officials were able to attend. The study session was not videotaped for residents to view either.

As Dearborn Councilman Robert Abraham said earlier on these pages, the one-year preferred developer extension for Fakhoury’s DVP needs to be approved. Developers aren’t knocking down the door to do work in Dearborn and the Burton-Katzman mess known as the West Village Commons is perhaps a lesson why it isn’t always safe to work with developers who have no vested interest in our city.

Fakhoury is a Dearborn resident who happens to own a large portion of vacant buildings along Michigan Avenue. He definitely has a vested interest in making sure this project is a success. While some people may dislike the design of his two relatively new buildings, one at Michigan and Military and the other at Michigan and Howard, they are far better than the eyesores that were there before.

Let’s hope, as one reader of Deepsaidwhat.com said in a recent comment here, that our elected city leaders put “their egos in the closet and do this (approve the one-year preferred developer extension) for the citizens of Dearborn” and help these developers “attract new business to Dearborn.”