City council candidate faces questions over plans for shopping center

The owner of the former Shoppers World is a candidate for city council, and there are questions about what he plans to do with the building besides letting it sit vacant.

By Charles Sercombe
Mayor Karen Majewski has a question for one of the candidates running for city council.
She would like to know what Mohamed Alsomiri plans to do with a building he owns in the middle of the Jos. Campau business district, the former Shoppers World store.
“He has owned the building for about two years and in that time the building has done nothing but deteriorate,” she said recently on her Facebook page. “Maybe voters should ask him what he is doing to revitalize Hamtramck. Feet to the fire.”
The vacant building is the largest commercial structure in the city, and has fallen into disrepair.
Alsomiri, in an interview with The Review, said it’s a matter of money. He said he has a long list of updates and improvements to make, starting with a city-required indoor sprinkler system.
Next on his list he said is a new electrical system and heating unit.
After that he said he will work on other improvements inside, and hopes to transform the building into a wedding hall rental.
“The market is down. I have to do something different,” Alsomiri said.
He also asked for other ideas for the building.
As for the condition of the outside of the building, he said that will have to wait. In the meantime, he said, it’s no worse than “when you close down a house.”
He is running for one of three seats on council.
The Review also asked City Manager Katrina Powell and Kathy Angerer, the Director of Community & Economic Development. about the status of the building.
Angerer replied in an email: “No improvement permits had been pulled at this time, however we are in plan review with the owner, Mr. Alsomiri, for improvements in the future. His architect has submitted drawings, we have reviewed, however the next phase of re-submittal has not yet happened. Mr. Alsomiri has also been contacted about the exterior condition and cleanliness of the property and is on notice to clean up and repair until he is approved for permits to renovate.”
In the not-so-distant past there had been grandiose plans for the building, but none materialized. At one time there was a proposal to turn the second floor of the two-story building into apartments for seniors.
The ground floor would have been redesigned for commercial use. However, that plan met opposition from some in the community. The plan eventually fell apart.
At one time it was the city’s largest store and part of a regional department store chain called Federals.
As that chain began to go bankrupt a fire broke out in the building. It was later taken over by another chain, Shoppers World.
Under Alsomiri’s ownership a small fire broke out in the building a couple of years ago but that caused just a small amount of damage.
Mayor Majewski said in her Facebook post that there is no reason for the building’s continued shabby condition.
“Mr. Alsomiri supposedly has plans in the works for this building,” she said. “That doesn’t prevent him from maintaining it, proceeding with basic renovations, and keeping it cleaned up. He could even have art in the windows in the meantime. There is no excuse for the state it is in now.”