Midwest City shoots down mall plan

Council says project to transform mall into senior housing lacks detail and funding

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

The latest proposal for the Heritage Park Mall was greeted with firm opposition last week.

Ahmad Bahreini, the owner of the property, is seeking to transform the vacant mall into an innovative housing development for seniors that would include an aquaponics system.

Vertical aquaponic farming consists of both aquaculture (raising of fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in water) in a somewhat closed loop. The fish water provides fertilizer for the plants, while the plants help to filter and purify the water for fish.

The proposed farm would also have its own micro biomass manufacturing facility that will handle composting of the waste from the aquaponics. The main purposes of the aquaponic farm are to provide therapy, education and production. Residents would be able to work at the aquaponic farm, according to the proposal.

The city council voiced their frustration about the owner’s lack of progress over the past decade and lack of details about the most recent proposal.

Bahreini asked the city to redistrict the mall property from a community commercial district (C-3) to a planned unit development with C-3 as the base zoning district. The request comes as the city is trying to acquire the property through its Urban Renewal Authority.

The applicant asked to have the item postponed until a future city council meeting. The council rejected the request, citing several previous delays in the application. Attorney Kelly Work, who represented Bahreini, said they were still working to address concerns raised by the planning commission.

“We have the same objective that the city has and that is to revitalize Heritage Park Mall and have it be a contributing asset to the city,” said Work.

Matt Summers, director of planning and zoning, recommended denial of the zoning request for a few reasons. Summers said the proposal lacks adequate information about the number and density of residential units, and location and amount of space that would be used for agricultural (aquaponics) and industrial (biomass manufacturing).

“We have some concerns about the agricultural and industrial uses and their proximity to residential uses,” he said.
He also said the city is trying to revitalize the area through Urban Renewal. The plans for the mall are not supported by the Heritage Park Mall Area Urban Renewal Plan or the city’s comprehensive plan.

The planning commission recommended denial of the proposal at the July 2 meeting.

Ward 1 councilwoman Susan Eads said the zoning proposal falls short on many levels.

“I’d like to hear a proposal that is concrete that doesn’t have holes in it like Swiss cheese of things that we need to fix,” she said. “And that tells me that it’s adequately financed.”

Work said their proposal is unconventional but believes it will be successful.

Ward 4 councilman Marc Thompson questioned the need for apartments in the area and said Bahreini’s plan does not seem to have necessary accommodations for seniors and people with disabilities.

“Are you going to try to tell me that Midwest City has a shortage of apartments at this point,” Thompson said.

Ward 2 councilman Pat Byrne pointed to concerns about the combining industrial and residential uses in the same building, which were raised by city staff. The proposal says that residents would have the opportunity to work at the aquaponic farm.

“We’re going to put people who are already vulnerable in that position,” he said. “I’m not so sure that’d be something I would want anyone that I knew doing.”

Councilmembers also questioned financing for the project. Alexandria Mu El, a partner in the project, said they are working with a firm that helped fund the start-up of Elon Musk’s Space X.

“No financial entity has committed funds for you to use to have at the ready,” Eads said.

Thompson later pointed to discrepancies about where the development company is located. He noted that the address given by Mu El, at Falls Creek Apartments, 7008 NW 16th St., is 50% destroyed by fire and is littered with trash and broken glass. He said the address is connected to Bahreini.

“That is the kind of property that Mr. Bahreini owns and operates and you’re telling me that he has the staff to clean up the mall suddenly,” Thompson said. “He has owned it since 2011 and has not made any significant improvements. In fact, it’s continued to go downhill.”

Mu El said it was a clerical error and reiterated that her company is separate from Bahreini. She said they plan to contract with a construction company that has worked with FEMA and the Department of Energy and other federal agencies. Thompson said the company is located in Biloxi, Mississippi.

“They don’t have any listing that they’ve done any kind of work like this before,” Thompson said. “They have done federal contracts on military bases. You contracted with them to do a remodel on a mall in Midwest City. I find that odd.”

Mayor Matt Dukes said told Work that the frustration about the mall has been building for years.

“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. ”

A few residents also spoke against the proposal.

The council unanimously rejected the zoning application by a 6-0 vote. Ward 5 councilwoman Sara Bana was absent.

Midwest City is in the process of acquiring the mall through its Urban Renewal Authority. The Authority recently submitted an offer of nearly $6 million for the mall.

If the city does not receive a response or if the city is not able to negotiate the sale within 90 days, city attorney Don Maisch said they will begin steps to attempt to take the property through eminent domain.

Bahreini bought the Montgomery Wards building in 2004 and the majority of the mall in 2011. He bought the property for $3.48 million.

LifeChurch owns the former Dillards building on the west end of the shopping center. Midwest City purchased the Sears building in 2019.