Slow, Painful Collapse Of Mohamad Amro's Slumlord Empire, A Stark And Terrible Warning To Bad Actors Thinking About "Investing" In North Minneapolis Property...

Contributed photo, 2519 3rd St. N, blog post by John Hoff

Mohamad Amro, who earned lasting fame on this blog as "Mr. Slummy" and inadvertently helped to launch the independent blogging career of the Hawthorne Hawkman, hasn't been written about for a while. In order to create a decent one-post interval between Part Thirty-Six and Thirty-Seven of the Madness of Jill Clark, it's about time for an update about the slow, painful collapse of what once promised to be a sprawling empire of slum...

Pictured above is 2519 3rd St. N., which has been foreclosed upon by Siwak's Lumber for unpaid bills by Amro. Incidentally, Siwak's appears to have done precisely what housing policy geek Jeff Skrenes (the aforementioned Hawthorne Hawkman) suggested; foreclose on 2519 3rd St. N. but only file a mechanic's lien on 2515 3rd St. N., the "big hole to China" building which is in such poor condition nobody should want to be the owner. However, if there's an insurance payout or an attempted sale by Amro, Siwek's can still get their demo fee. If Siwek's owned the building outright, however, they might be on the hook for the demo fee; kind of like the "Uncle Lennie" fiasco, click here.

Check it out. You can actually see the marked difference between the property still owned by Amro and the one owned by Siwek Lumber; the lumber company is keeping their grass mowed.

Woe! Woe to the house of Amro! This is what happens to slumlords who come into North Minneapolis and try to set up shop, thinking there's no community standards and they can get away with WHATEVER. Let this serve as a stark and terrible warning to all who would come after.

Here's 2515 3rd St. N., open to the elements and a danger to the neighborhood. This home is probably beyond saving. This is what happens when slumlords get their hands on homes in North Minneapolis. This is why we have to fight to keep them out and throw them out.

Despite his lack of taste and complete disregard for the historical character of the building, including its windows, Amro wasn't doing such terrible work with the siding. Now it sits half done like a watch whose hands stop when a sailor leaps from a burning ship. (Oh oh, I'm writing about Amro but I can't stop thinking about my "sinking of the S.S. Jill Clark" metaphor)

It looks like when the stop work order was posted, somebody set down this drink bottle in the window sill and never picked it up again.

Here's the garage in the rear of 2515 3rd St. N. It seems like they were taking odds and ends of siding and doing the garage? I can't say it matches the house nicely, but I can't say it matches the house badly. I guess I can say it matches the house.

The hole in the garage, just like Amro left it. Look at that old painted wood. This little building had character. But Amro touched it and it turned to crap.

The roof on the garage doesn't look too bad. Maybe the building can still be saved but with that hole in the side snow will drift in this winter. Does a "stop work" order prevent boarding a building against the elements? I would tend to think not but I doubt Amro gives a damn.

Here's 2515 3rd St. N. from the back. Note how the boards on the windows appear to be composed of whatever was laying around, with no attempt to match. What would you call this style? I'm going to go with Ad Hoc Zombie Apocalypse.

Note how the sheer power of the slummy force field has caused the garage wall to bow inward when somebody came too close and cut grass nearby.

Here's the garage at 2519 3rd St. N.

Though Siwak's has done a good job keeping the grass cut at their property (formerly owned by Amro) this garage could use some repairs. HELLO, you're a lumber company. Obviously you have the materials to do the job.

Here's the back of 2519 3rd St. N., in pretty good shape.

Contrast, yet again, with 2515. Here you can see where somebody just took a bunch of debris and threw it into a basement window egress. Well, to be fair I'm sure the Cheetos bag just blew there.

Amro's empire, once full of frantic movement, now sits at a standstill. The fate of these two buildings appears up in the air. The house at 2519 may yet see a happy ending, but 2515 appears all but doomed. Since Siwak lumber has a mechanic's lien, it may be that one glorious day 2519 has a big yard which used to have a house.

The moral of the story? We ain't partial to slumlord's 'round these parts. Slumlords? Don't even bother looking for property in North Minneapolis. You will end up like Mohammed Amro.