Posted December 30, 200915 yr I have been on search for interesting structures for sale in Cleveland. This property is going through foreclosure. The previous owner bought it for 115,000 in 05. He defaulted on it around 08 after some mishaps with mortgage fraud, now it is back in foreclosure. History: The Warner and Swasey Observatory is the astronomical observatory of Case Western Reserve University. Named after Worcester R. Warner and Ambrose Swasey, who were precision equipment manufactures and owned the BIG abandoned warehouse near the Cleveland Clinic. They built it at the beginning of the 20th century, and gifted it to Case. It was used up until 85 when it was abandoned, because of light pollution, and has been empty since. It is located on Taylor Road on the Cleveland/East Cleveland boarder. Not my thread, but a lot of neat pics from inside the Warner Swasey Company on Euclid Carnegie Ave: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,21538.0.html Floor plans of the building: http://www.flipline.com/wso/floorplans.html Minus a lot of broken windows, the opening is also open to the elements. I think the dome would make a great library :-)
January 3, 201015 yr This place is very cool. It must be a difficult place to photograph. Great effort.
January 3, 201015 yr Very cool. If worse comes to worse, the domes can probably be salvaged and moved to a place with better light conditions. Amateur astronomers today often have better equipment than professional astronomers of a century ago.
January 3, 201015 yr What a beautiful building. It evokes such a 19th century feeling of the power of Science. Sad to see it in such disrepair.
January 4, 201015 yr No plans for this? Also, isn't the warehouse in the thread listed above the one on Carnegie? Says Euclid.
January 4, 201015 yr What a great building. It would be very sad to lose it. Do you know what the previous owner planned to do with the building?
January 4, 201015 yr It would be very sad to lose it. Do you know what the previous owner planned to do with the building? From what I understand a "gentleman", MAHDI AND ASSOCIATES LTD, bought it with the hopes to turn it into a residence in 05. Though apparently they/he was involved in a mortgage scam and the house went back into foreclosure, from there I am unsure as it what is going on with it now. It is listed as being owned by DONSHIRS DEVELOPEMENT CORP, I have been unable to find any info about them. From the looks of it, the gentleman committing fraud, Mahdi, has turned over deeds to numerous properties to this company. Anyone know anything about DDC? Also the warehouse is on Carnegie, not Euclid. Good catch...
January 7, 201015 yr ^ Mahdi & Associates owns a lot of deplorable properties in Cleveland. I can personally tell you of some that they've owned for numerous years and didn't put a finger on. Donshirs Development Corp has the same agent/owner, Mark J. Van Rooy of Rocky River. It's a for-profit agency. It's most likely the exact same company. (As an aside, a lot of these shady investors name their companies very closely to reputable nonprofits. There's a Cleveland Restoration Group that mimics Cleveland Restoration Society, a Freedom Housing Network that mimics Cleveland Housing Network, etc. People get fooled that they are buying a house from a solid nonprofit about which they've heard great things. CDCs have difficulties sometimes because a company will come up as something like West Tremont Development Corporation and try to do contracting work for residents and they'll think it's reputable.)
January 7, 201015 yr ^ Mahdi & Associates owns a lot of deplorable properties in Cleveland. I can personally tell you of some that they've owned for numerous years and didn't put a finger on. Donshirs Development Corp has the same agent/owner, Mark J. Van Rooy of Rocky River. It's a for-profit agency. It's most likely the exact same company. (As an aside, a lot of these shady investors name their companies very closely to reputable nonprofits. There's a Cleveland Restoration Group that mimics Cleveland Restoration Society, a Freedom Housing Network that mimics Cleveland Housing Network, etc. People get fooled that they are buying a house from a solid nonprofit about which they've heard great things. CDCs have difficulties sometimes because a company will come up as something like West Tremont Development Corporation and try to do contracting work for residents and they'll think it's reputable.) Wow that's awful!! As if it was difficult enough to redevelop Cleveland neighborhoods...
January 8, 201015 yr Thanks for the photos, when I researched the Warner and Swasey Company Building I explored I came up with some info on this structure.
January 8, 201015 yr It would be very sad to lose it. Do you know what the previous owner planned to do with the building? From what I understand a "gentleman", MAHDI AND ASSOCIATES LTD, bought it with the hopes to turn it into a residence in 05. Though apparently they/he was involved in a mortgage scam and the house went back into foreclosure, from there I am unsure as it what is going on with it now. It is listed as being owned by DONSHIRS DEVELOPEMENT CORP, I have been unable to find any info about them. From the looks of it, the gentleman committing fraud, Mahdi, has turned over deeds to numerous properties to this company. Anyone know anything about DDC? Also the warehouse is on Carnegie, not Euclid. Good catch... From my days in journalism I learned that the best way to find someone was to locate who pays their taxes or who their attorney is. So you go to the county auditor's site for taxes and the Ohio secretary of state (EDIT: wasn't necessary in this instance) to find out their attorney...... Auditor's site: PARCEL ID 673-20-018 OWNERS NAME DONSHIRS DEVELOPEMENT CORP. ADDRESS 01975 TAYLOR RD CITY EAST CLEVELAND ZIP 44112 Bought for $115,000 in 2005 by MAHDI AND ASSOCIATES LTD and transferred via Quit Claim Deed in 2007 to DONSHIRS DEVELOPEMENT CORP. The property (land and building) was most recently appraised by the county for tax purposes at $164,300 Their mailing address for tax purposes is: Donshirs Development Corp., 18851 Shelburne Rd, Shaker Hts., OH 44118 If you go to Google, you will see that address is a residential location. A number of other businesses are also listed to it. But if we go back to the Auditors site to see who owns the home at that address, it is: MAHDI, NAYYIR AL 18851 SHELBURNE RD SHAKER HEIGHTS If you do a Google search on his name, you come up with all sorts of articles on this fine man. Including........ Nayyir Al Mahdi Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Mortgage Fraud FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 1, 2007 Nayyir Al Mahdi Sentenced to Two Years in Prison, $200,000 in Restitution for Mortgage Fraud Involving 12 Houses CLEVELAND- Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason announced that Nayyir Al Mahdi was sentenced to two years in prison. On October 22, 2007, Mahdi pled guilty to eight ( 8 ) counts of Theft, fourth degree felonies, and agreed to pay $200,000 in restitution.Each of his two corporations, Mary Mae Foundation L.L.C and Mahdi and Associates, pled guilty to engaging in a pattern of criminal activity, commonly known as RICO, first degree felonies. Mahdi, 36, of Shaker Heights, who rehabbed houses, was indicted in January 2007 for mortgage fraud. He was part of a large case that included 61 defendants who were indicted on a total of 269 counts of forgery and theft offenses, telecommunications fraud, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity for mortgage fraud that occurred in 2004 and 2005. This case involved 38 properties purchased in Cleveland, East Cleveland, and Garfield Heights with 2.85 million dollars in loans. The indictment comprised 14 key individuals and companies, 45 buyers and sellers and other involved parties, and an appraiser who falsified appraisals. READ MORE AT: http://www.prosecutormason.com/mnc.aspx?type=PressRelease&mcid=305 ___________________________________________ Plus, there are these items: Couple to make old observatory their home Updated: 9/7/2005 9:54:54 AM Posted: 9/7/2005 9:54:27 AM EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- An observatory where astronomers used to chart planets and stars now has a purpose more terrestrial than celestial. It's a family's new home. READ MORE AT: http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=40405 ___________________________________________ Or this....... WARNER SWASEY OBSERVATORY - GIFT ABANDONED BY CASE WESTERN UNIVERSITY Submitted by MillerBuster Report on February 5, 2008 - 12:59pm. What the sad history of this gift and building make me aware of is the transience of promises. Gifts given today are abandoned later. Art museums are moved from their gifted venue to locations where more visitor money is available. If you are wealthy enough to be a philanthropist, maybe you should provide an endowment along with the gift – and deeded restrictions/instructions controlling abandonment of the gift. READ MORE AT: http://realneo.us/blog/millerbuster-report/warner-swasey-observatory-gift-abondoned-by-case-western-university Plus some great photos including these..... ___________________________________________ Keep checking the sheriff's site for this property ending up on the sale list. You now have the street address, parcel number and property owner's name to aid your search. A number of Nayyir Al Mahdi's properties have ended up at sheriff's sales.... http://cleveland.blockshopper.com/search?f=buyer&q=Nayyir%20Al%20Mahdi "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 24, 201212 yr Bumping this mostly dead thread. As of 12 Oct. 2011, this property was transferred to the City of East Cleveland via sherrif's deed. If I read it correctly, it can be purchased through their Land Reutilization Program at fair market value (est. $93,900 on Zillow, as of today). I'd make an offer myself, but not sure how to go about it, as I'd be purchasing for historical preservation rather than "development".
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