Hakim Fakhoury former owner of several buildings on Michigan Ave. in West Dearborn.

DEARBORN — The city has long pointed a finger at business developer Hakim Fakhoury for a batch of abandoned buildings in west Dearborn that officials claimed prohibited them from turning the area into a hot spot. 

Now, a new lawsuit filed in federal court by attorney Shereef Akeel on behalf of Fakhoury and his family claims that Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly used his authority to push them out of the city

The lawsuit states that such efforts were initiated because the mayor wanted another businessman to acquire the properties. That businessman is Mike Hamame, a former business partner of Fakhoury’s. 

Furthermore, the Fakhourys are claiming that city officials and police officers routinely harassed and even wrongfully arrested them, all part of the orchestrated effort to remove them from the business district. 

The lawsuit names O’Reilly, Dearborn Police Sgt. Andreas Barnette and a city prosecuting attorney, William Debiasi, as defendants.

Backstory

Starting in the late 80s, Fakhoury and his wife purchased several buildings in west Dearborn along Michigan Ave. with the intention of leasing them out to tenants who would run vibrant businesses that would attract customers to the area.

The city had long aimed to turn the downtown district into a booming commercial area that would attract young and trendy customers, in hopes of modeling it after the downtowns of Royal Oak and Birmingham.

Those plans initially materialized with the establishment of several restaurants on Fakhoury-owned properties along Michigan Ave., including a Panera Bread, Buffalo Wild Wings and a Pizza Papalis.

“I began buying those buildings when nobody had an interest in west Dearborn,” Fakhoury told The AANews. 

However, in the 2000s the area started becoming stagnant once again. Fakhoury pointed his finger at decisions made by city officials that impacted traffic at area businesses. Paid parking was introduced in west Dearborn and many businesses owners claimed it affected them financially.

Fakhoury, who had plans to lease out more properties, claimed he had difficulty doing so because of both paid parking and the economy. He also cited a mega-shopping center built in Allen Park as another setback for west Dearborn. 

“After I developed the Panera building, the city introduced paid parking and it became a huge issue,” Fakhoury said. “The cost of paid parking and the abuse in enforcement really impacted businesses. People were getting ticketed up to three times a day. West Dearborn became vacant again.”

Fakhoury said he was pleading back and forth with city officials to expunge paid parking. He sat on the Downtown Development Authority, along with some of his tenants, who would frequently relay that message to city officials.

The city would eventually get rid of paid parking — coincidentally right after Fakhoury sold his buildings to Hamame in June 2014.

But in February 2013, Fakhoury alleged that O’Reilly had told tenants Fakhoury was no longer the rightful owner of the buildings and that it would be illegal for the Fakhoury family to collect rent.

The lawsuit contains a copy of an April 2013 Dearborn Police bulletin that warns about the Fakhourys and asks police to be on the lookout for any potential problems.

The lawsuit alleged that other family members, including Fakhoury’s children, were targeted by police for arrests on charges such as trespassing on properties they owned, when they tried to collect rent from tenants.

“He basically formulated a story and instilled pain and punishment in me by telling people not to pay me rent because I’m no longer the landlord,” Fakhoury said. “He used his power to wipe me out of west Dearborn.” 

Due to the strained relations he developed with the city, some of Fakhoury’s abandoned buildings sat in limbo and collected dust while other areas of the downtown district began receiving lavish makeovers from new building owners and tenants.

Fakhoury recalled striking a deal with a tenant to occupy one of his buildings. The tenant was then told by city officials, “You don’t want to deal with this guy” when she went to sign her lease agreement.

“They would shy people away,” Fakhoury said. “A lot of tenants got up and left. The economy wasn’t conducive to have paid parking.”

O’Reilly did not return calls from The AANews. However, in an interview with the Detroit Free Press, he shot back at Fakhoury, claiming the allegations were false and that he has saved emails to prove it.

“He’s a victim all the time,” O’Reilly said. “Everyone has victimized him. That’s how he sees things…all the facts will come out…I have no concerns.”

Future of west Dearborn

Despite Fakhoury’s exit from west Dearborn, he left his mark. He introduced loft living in downtown Dearborn, which the city plans to expand on in the coming years. 

Fakhoury said he believes west Dearborn has a bright future ahead, with the addition of trendy new restaurants popping up and a major Ford development plan coming to the area.

He added that the mayor should be thankful for a large Arab population that is investing heavily in the city.

“We have a very robust economy and he’s very fortunate because we have a lot of Middle Easterners that love this town,” Fakhoury said. “They are opening businesses and are doing a phenomenal job for the economy in Dearborn.”

However, he still questions O’Reilly’s motives.

“I don’t know what’s in his head,” Fakhoury said. “Is he trying to use his influence to steer it in certain people’s hands? You are talking about a Downtown development that’s only four blocks long. It doesn’t take much to make it happen. Dearborn is sitting in a great position to come back and come back stronger.”