Glendale Offers Rug Shop $11 Million

Reiterates No Condemnation

Kholghys Still Not Pleased – Reject Offer

by Mark Smiley

  The City of Glendale sent out a press release confirming that it had offered M.A.K. Investment Group, LLC, the owners of Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs and the surrounding land, $11 million for the land which M.A.K. Investment Group, LLC acquired for $6.5 million in 2006. The price was determined by an independent appraisal ordered by the city from the well respected Colorado firm Chase & Company. The press release declared that the “Glendale Urban Renewal Authority has taken no action to condemn the property and has no intention to do so in conjunction with this project.” M.A.K. Investment Group, LLC is an entity owned by the Kholghy family from Iran.

Notwithstanding the city’s repeated assertions that it has no interest in condemning M.A.K.’s property the Kholghy family has undertaken a massive anti condemnation public relations campaign with the help of Virginia based Institute for Justice and the far right wing paramilitary group the Oath Keepers.

Merchants Of Hate

Former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, accused of using virulent anti Hispanic rhetoric, is another supporter of the Kholghys. Tancredo had the Kholghys on his co-hosted radio show on 560 KLZ until the owner of station had Tancredo removed from the air. Glendale has a large number of Hispanics both legal and undocumented. Tancredo, who is famous for wearing a hat emblazoned with the “Border Patrol” on it, headlined one or more rallies held by the Kholghys. Some African Americans and Hispanics in Glendale are outraged by the conduct of the Kholghys. They accuse the Kholghys of using the allegedly racist paramilitary group the Oath Keepers and former Congressman Tancredo to intimidate and harass minorities in the city who might oppose the Kholghys’ plans.

Few individuals in Glendale in the minority community can afford the very high end costly rugs sold at Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs and some have claimed minorities are treated with disrespect when they go to the store. The Kholghys have denied the same as well as allegations that they are bigots.

Glendale businessman Barret O’Brien, who is on the Board of Directors of the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce, stated, “Just look who the Kholghys employ and have as supporters. Glendale is a wonderfully diverse place with a large number of minorities. When Tancredo, the Oath Keepers and the Institute for Justice are your supporters it tells you everything you need to know about what the Kholghys and their backers are all about. The Kholghys are definitely not nice people and I don’t know any community in Colorado that would want them moving into town after what they have pulled in Glendale.”

Nasrin Kholghy was not pleased with the City’s offer. She told the Denver Business Journal: “We have repeatedly said that we do not want to sell our land. We have a more family-oriented vision for it than the City of Glendale has.”

The last statement has some observers wondering what exactly she meant by a “more family-oriented vision” considering the Kholghys’ neighbors are Shotgun Willie’s adult nightclub and Fascinations, an adult superstore that sells sex toys and the Kholghys themselves rent to a marijuana shop on their property. Observers indicated that the Kholghys, in fact, hope to ignore or avoid the city’s zoning and master plan by building large scale apartment buildings next to the creek.

The Kholghys have also indicated a desire to build within the Cherry Creek flood plain which would appear to violate federal and state law as well as enraging environmental groups. A large number of apartment houses would in effect destroy the proposed entertainment district to the benefit of the Kholghys but the detriment of all other property owners along East Virginia Avenue and make congestion along Colorado Boulevard significantly worse than it already is according to traffic control experts.

Glendale 180 Proceeding

The City of Glendale also announced that it was moving ahead with its proposed Glendale 180 entertainment district sans the Kholghys. A downtown development authority has been established which is to be approved by the landowners in an election this fall.

Key Glendale businessman David Peterson, who is a co-owner of the Bull & Bush Brewery as well as a director on the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce, stated, “We applaud the City’s actions to provide a fair and transparent process around the creation of Glendale 180.” He went on to note, “Today, we are one step closer to Glendale becoming a world-class destination for the entire Denver region.”