The owner of Heritage Park Mall in Midwest City faced stiff opposition from neighbors of the blighted eyesore and a skeptical city council as he sought a rezoning of the property to allow its conversion into a mix of senior affordable housing and a hydroponics farm.
Kelly Work, attorney for mall owner Ahmad Bahreini, told the town’s city council recently his client is serious about redeveloping the mall. Hydroponics involves growing agricultural products indoors in water instead of soil.
“We understand it’s a very unusual proposed mix of uses,” Work said. “But we feel like that is what is going to be required to revitalize this former shopping mall.”
City council members, surrounded by a crowd of neighbors unhappy with Bahreini’s ownership of the mall, quickly rejected the proposal. The effort coincides with work by the Midwest City Urban Renewal Authority to acquire the mall either through a purchase or condemnation.
Bahreini’s proposal was roundly criticized by city council members for being incomplete and lacking specifics on his ability to build the apartments and hydroponic farm.
Councilman Marc Thompson questioned why Bahreini would pitch a plan to build apartments for low-income seniors and veterans living in proximity to dangerous fumes and gasses emitted by the hydroponics farm.
“We have a restaurant in close proximity,” Thompson said. “I believe you are proposing discharging ammonia, sulphur gas and possibly methane gas into the atmosphere after the bio-mass production as a result of the fish tank. I haven’t seen any mention anywhere in any of this material as to how you plan to deal with the noxious odor.”
Council members also noted Bahreini’s proposal did not include evidence of financing and ability to pull off such a development.
Work responded Bahreini is prepared to raise money through bitcoin. Bahreini did not speak at the meeting, but Alexandria Mu El, a partner in the project, told the city council their funding will include seed capital from the same firm that helped fund the start-up of Elon Musk’s Space X.
More: See Midwest City’s Heritage Park Mall now, and through the years
Mu El also told the city council that she has the staff as part of her own separate company to clean up the property if given the time to further develop the plan for renovations. Thompson noted the address given by Mu El, at the Falls Creek Apartments, 7008 NW 16, is 50% destroyed by fire and is littered with trash and broken glass.
“That is the kind of property Mr. Bahreini owns and operates,” Thompson said.
Work, who began representing Bahreini in 2023, was told by Mayor Matt Dukes that he failed to understand his client’s history of neglect and past efforts to assist him in redeveloping the property.
“This has been a contentious issue for nine years,” Dukes said. “We handed your client a $58,000 study on how to redevelop the mall, none of which included the mall standing. It included some residential, light retail, the possibility of a senior center. But none of it included the mall standing as it is.”
Bahreini’s latest redevelopment claims coincides with the Midwest City Urban Renewal Authority recently offering $5.9 million for portions of the mall he acquired for $3.4 million between 2004 and 2011.
City attorney Donald Maisch told The Oklahoman condemnation action can be filed if 90 days pass without a purchase agreement. Once filed, the court appoints three commissioners to evaluate and appraise the property. Once that process is complete, the commissioners file a report with the court that includes their appraised value.
At that time, the city can place the commissioner appraised amount in an escrow account.
“If the owner sues and argues that state law was not properly followed, that question must be answered before all other issues can move forward,” Maisch said. “If the owner sues, just claiming the commissioner appraisal is too low, then the property is transferred to the city and the case proceeds on the amount the owner will be paid.”
Bahreini, who owns an array of lower-income homes throughout the metro, first bought the former Montgomery Wards anchor at the mall in 2004 and then bought a majority of the rest of shopping center in 2011.
During a 2023 interview with The Oklahoman, Bahreini was asked how he could redevelop the mall when he has several rental homes that are boarded-up. He responded he was waiting for the right time and was ready to make repairs. A check of Google photos of the homes taken over the past four months show no changes to the homes.
When the city council voted Tuesday to reject his rezoning application and development proposal, they indicated they long ago lost patience with Bahreini.
“How many times have we been told we’re going to take care of it, we’re going to take care of it, we’re going to take care of it,” Dukes said. “None of which occurred.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Midwest City not impressed by latest proposal for Heritage Park Mall
Source Agencies
