Marcos Bretón: A poke in the eye from Moe
By Marcos Bretón - Bee Columnist
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Much of the K Street Mall is an eyesore, a string of blighted buildings and empty lots that smear renewal efforts in other parts of downtown Sacramento.
The 700 and 800 blocks of K Street are the worst, the focus of a lawsuit between the city of Sacramento and a man known for lovely manners and obstructionist tendencies.
Moe Mohanna is an Iranian-born gentleman whose Western Management Company on Ninth Street controls large swaths of K Street -- land the city wants. The city wants high-end retail in a row of faded storefronts in the 700 block. It was prepared to execute a trade with Mohanna that would have left him in control of the 800 block in exchange for giving up his properties in the 700 block. Roughly $24 million in city funds are invested in this effort. Mohanna had agreed to the deal but balked at the 11th hour.
"It appears I'm standing in the way," Mohanna said in an interview last week.
[No sh't] The city sued Mohanna. The bet here is that an eminent domain fight will soon follow, while K Street remains a pit.
"I think this is a major disappointing turn of events for Sacramento," said Mike Heller, whose J Street building houses Mikuni and PF Chang's.
David Taylor, who built the Esquire Plaza, said: "It is really important that developers be able and willing to develop properties not only in their own interests but interests in the entire area. "My experience having discussed more than one joint venture with Moe is he seems to get nervous and can't bring it to closure. He seems to have an inability to know what a good deal is and what a bad deal is."
John Lambeth, a lawyer and Mohanna's partner, would not comment. That's fine. But if you think your partner is right, why not say so?
John Saca, a former Mohanna partner currently trying to build a high rise on 10th and J streets, said he likes Mohanna and respects him.
[Is Saca going to be another Moe?] But in regard to the land swap, Saca said: "I believe the city lived up to all the commitments they made to us, but unfortunately it failed."
No one disputes Mohanna's right to buy property in the path of downtown development. It's a fundamental way landowners make money. Mohanna owns 14 properties in his name, and by his count, is a partner in up to "20 or 30" buildings.
Has he ever developed anything on that land? No. He's repainted, done minor fixes to dated storefronts, taken on a collection of threadbare tenants.
"I'm ashamed of myself to delay the good work of the city but I'm not the cause, I'm the victim," he said. "I keep hearing we don't want those people. I'm one of those people. There are more homeless and mentally ill people who know me and hug me on the street."
[OMG this is classic Moe bullsh't]
LeRoy Chatfield, the former director of Loaves & Fishes, the downtown charity for the homeless, said Mohanna is a friend of poor people. "Those high-rises and visions of downtown don't incorporate poor people. They displace them, and no one cares except Moe," Chatfield said.
[Should we start calling him "Saint Moe"?]
That's great. But with significant land ownings and the ability to hire teams of lawyers, Mohanna is not a downtrodden little guy.
Maybe city officials wronged him on other fronts. He wouldn't be the first. Maybe Mohanna sees himself as such an outsider, he can't trust anyone and that's why he hasn't made this deal or developed new projects on his properties.
One way or the other, he's going to get paid -- even if he loses an eminent domain fight.
If that's the ultimate objective, it comes at a heavy price to a community Mohanna claims to love.