DEARBORN — During a special city council meeting on February 4, the city denied a request to sell a property back to Sam Hamade, a former business owner of a warehouse located at 7041 Orchard Ave.

The city had bought the property after the county foreclosed on it when Hamade had fallen behind on his property taxes. Mayor O’Reilly expressed that he was interested in turning the warehouse into a residential zone because it is located in the middle of a neighborhood, calling the property an “eyesore.” 

However, Hamade and his attorney Carl Rashid have been involved in heavy debate with the city about selling the property back to Hamade for $63,000, the same price that it purchased it for from the county.

The City Council voted 4-3 after heavily discussing the issue, denying Hamade the warehouse along with two adjacent properties on Ternes Street. Hamade had been operating his company Domani International at the properties, just several yards away from nearby residential homes. 

Tom Tafelski, council president pro tem, and Councilmen David Bazzy, Brian O’Donnell and Mark Shooshanian voted to deny the request, in line with the recommendation made by the administration and Law Department. Council President Susan Dabaja, and Councilmen Bob Abraham and Mike Sareini voted to allow the sale.

The city also expressed opposition to selling the property back to Hamade because they feared there might be more than one interested buyer, which may put it in legal jeopardy if they don’t accept bids.

City Assessor Gary Evanko told the council that if the warehouse were to be demolished, the vacant land would have a market value of $140,000 and could be subdivided to allow for six or seven houses. The warehouse is located at the dead-end corner of Orchard Street, just south of Warren Ave. The surrounding area seems to contain overlapping residential and industrial properties, which the city says it’s been aiming to separate in recent years.

Hamade lost the warehouse and the two lots after missing a delinquent property tax payment with the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office that was due June 13, 2013. He was one payment short of being at the 60 percent threshold on his property taxes, which would have kept his property out of foreclosure. However, Hamade says he missed a $6,050.57 payment because he had a death in the family and had to travel to Lebanon.