Friday, December 4, 2009

2222 4th Ave. N. To Be Demolished...



Photos by Jeff Skrenes

Word came first from Jeff Skrenes, the "Hawthorne Hawkman," and was confirmed by an email from Council Member Hofstede which was forwarded by Hawthorne resident Michael Klick.

The house at 2222 4th Ave. N. will be demolished. The council voted today, unanimously. This property is virtually cursed...

It was the place where the dead, frozen body of Annshalike Hamilton was discovered. This murder is still unsolved and anybody with information should contact the Minneapolis Police Department.

Attempts have been made to rehab and rehabilitate the property, but the attempts were slum-lordy and half-hearted, not meeting the standards of the neighborhood or public officials. Apparently, when Mahmood Khan bought his properties, he was under the impression North Minneapolis operated something like the "Wild West" and he could get away with having crappy rental properties left to sit for months and years.

These photos were taken just hours ago by Jeff Skrenes, to show the current condition of the property. Compare with, for example, this image from some time ago, click here.

Wannabe slumlords can look at the example of Mahmood Khan and 2222 4th Ave. N. and take note: this slumlord stuff no longer flies in North Minneapolis, particularly in the Hawthorne Neighborhood.

3 comments:

Katie said...

Kudos to the Hawkman for these photos. They really convey the absolute desolation of the property.

Jeff Skrenes said...

Thank you Katie, and keep this in mind: Khan had a restoration agreement that stayed demolition for a year. That agreement ended in August of 2009 and it wasn't until today that he was held fully accountable for failing to comply.

So the "absolute desolation" you describe is actually the culmination of fifteen months of work to improve the place.

HC said...

Let's see how long it takes the city to tear it down...we are still waiting for 1564 Hillside to be demolished, and it has had a raza order since the first part of the year.