Catching Up on Slumlord Details

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Recently in the Strib, there were two articles that had tiny bits of information about slumlords in north Minneapolis.  Where the NoMi blogosphere comes in is that we can take those shreds of info and hold them up to a magnifying glass for all to see.  In one article, a list of landlords who had lost one or more rental licenses was published.  Near the bottom of the article were two names of landlords familiar to NoMi:  Mahmood Khan and the Durkops (Aaron and Mary).  Khan shouldn't need much introduction, and the Durkops were the principals behind Kaizen Property Solutions LLC, who were the designated manager of Paul Koenig's dollar houses.  Khan and the Durkops each lost one rental license, but from which properties?

Well, that took a little digging through city council and committee meeting minutes, but...

...I first have to admit I can't find the property where I can definitively say it's connected to Khan's lost rental license.  We have this recommendation for a revocation at 3223 Bryant Ave N, There are also various meeting minutes that point to Khan having a license reinstated at 2906 Emerson Ave N, which may be the house in question.  If readers can point to something more definitive, have at it.

And of course I was more than a little expectant that the Durkops would have been burned by their association with Paul Koenig.  This turned out not to be the case, however, as the house that led to their revocation of a license was at 2939 Lyndale Ave N.  Unpaid fines and assessments led to the city's revocation action.  2939 Lyndale, by the way, is in my opinion a gem of a house that will hopefully be restored from the Durkops' neglect.  Johnny Northside did a brief write-up of the property on his blog.

The other property shown above is in connection with arson that was reported by the Strib.  Apparently on Sunday a string of fires was lit throughout parts of south Minneapolis, and the Star Tribune article tells of two other unrelated fires.  One was on the 300 block of 24th Ave N.  I drove by and it was fairly easy to tell that our arson victim on the block was 309 24th Ave N, which is owned by Golloywog Properties, which in turn is owned by Robert Serr, who has no shortage of problems occurring at his houses.

There was a neighbor outside grilling when I took the photos of 309 24th, and I asked him if he knew what had happened.  He claimed that the house was "bombed."  Allegedly the culprits came by and threw something like molotov cocktails in the place while people were inside.  The neighbor said that everybody thankfully made it out okay.

I've also long posited that once a property gets in the hands of a slumlord or a mortgage fraudster, it cycles through owner after fraudulent/slummy owner.  This theory holds up to repeated tests.  2906 Emerson Ave N, which is now owned by Mahmood Khan, was once owned by an individual by the name of Paul G. Yackel.  Yackel had rental licenses revoked on seven properties:  2906 Emerson Ave N, 621 26th Ave N, 2934 Colfax Ave N, 3115 Sheridan Ave N, 305 24th Ave N, 2402 James Ave N, and 1918 Queen Ave N.  The 621 26th property wound up in the hands of Pamiko and is set for demolition.  305 24th is now a vacant lot next door to the arson at 309.

Anyone with information about the arson incident, Khan, the Durkops, or Robert Serr...well, that's what the comment section is for.