Notorious 3016 Henderson Mill Road house was built for church, re-purchased for parties

“If you don’t fight something like this, it gets a foothold and multiplies”, one person wrote on the Henderson Hills Nextdoor website in June. Over 200 comments have been posted about what goes on at a residence near Mercer University Drive on once sleepy Henderson Mill Road. The tone bears on neighborhood vigilance now that a notorious housing project—some say “mansion”, became a pay-for-party palace. Many people now regret not trying to do something about the county construction permit in the first place, in 1999.

In an area that some people would recognize as the heart of the Lakeside City effort, the Nextdoor website has become the web presence for real time reports of comings and goings at 3016 Henderson Mill Road. Other questions about the players who own and use the property for parties-for-pay. The on-line discussion also alludes to the strange background of the house itself, complete with a murder mystery about the original owner. The house has figuratively been the “gift” that keeps giving after zoning officials permitted an odd “mother-in-law” addition to a 1500 square foot ranch house.

The manipulation of zoning laws represents a Post-2000 era where “inner ring” suburbs may be subject to significant cultural changes. In this case, one Mikhail Mallayev, the President of the Bukharian Jewish Community of Atlanta, having just moved to Atlanta in 1999, bought a 1500 square foot ranch house at 3016 Henderson Mill Road.  Another Bukharian held church services across the road, but those were disbanded by police. Mallayev “added” 7,500 square feet (sextupled) to the ranch by swallowing the existing home—according to a neighbor, to accommodate religious gatherings and help immigrating youth settle into schooling here. According to the current Chairperson for the Board of Zoning Appeals, such uses are now illegal under current law, unless a special use permit (SLUP) is granted—and SLUPS consider neighborhood testimony.

The house appeared to be built at as slow a pace that Mallayev’s finances would allow, as it remained under construction for seven years. Curious onlookers had plenty of time to study the project, which was seen to include dormitory-like accommodations, tiny upstairs bedrooms accompanied by a communal bathroom.

Though the project officially was awarded zoning and construction permits by public officials, at least one DeKalb agency recognizes it as poorly constructed. The DeKalb Board of Equalization has rated it “functionally obsolescent”, lowering its taxable value. A retaining wall remains collapsed into a next door neighbor's back yard and its sewer line is backed up.

Curiously, this Mikhail Mallayev is also presumed to be the same man that became very public in late 2007, when New York’s media blanketed coverage of a Chamblee, Georgia man of the same name, described as owner and builder of a “gaudy McMansion” being tried for murder in Queens. He is currently in jail, reported to be contesting extradition to Georgia. The murder charges and reports of  local investigations for fraud in Georgia are described in these reports:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-suspected-shooting-dentist-daniel-malakov-claims-innocence-article-1.257352#ixzz37Bt4Uley

http://nypost.com/2007/11/22/man-with-a-past/ and 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/investors-charge-mikhail-mallayev-bilked-millions-housing-swindle-article-1.259972

Church becomes Party House

“3016” was then bought by a Lawrenceville investor, Humaira Kahn in 2010 after two years being on the market. DeKalb tax records show that Khan got a discount price under bankruptcy for just over $430,000 after being valued at $1.2 million in “better times”. However, as if to carry on Mallayev’s legacy, it was marketed and purchased as meeting space, not a home. One local real estate broker, protective of the integrity of the area had confronted the listing realtor about selling the “home” for purposes other than single family use. After the building was sold, there wasn’t much evidence that anyone occupied it.

Apparently, by 2013, Kahn and her husband had found a way to use the Henderson Mill space. Parties were advertised for “Taj Mahal Mansion” on at least one entertainment website, Eventbrite.com. An operator leasing the space charged $40 for an event in December, 2013 for “meeting the beautiful women of Atlanta” and $20 for an April, 2013 party billed as “Steppin’ Around Atlanta”. Mr. Kahn confided to me that he had disagreements with the tenant (over back pay, according to a neighbor) and threw him out. There then entered a curious party management company called Hut Nation in January of this year.

Hut Nation and a web of similarly named operations under the “Hut” name are owned by an Olan Oshiyemi. Hut Spot, Hut Villa and Hut Up registered with the Georgia Secretary of State on September 11, 2013. Hut Nation is chartered in Delaware and operates from Portland, Maine. Hut Nation’s website shows party locations in several states including Georgia. The company offers “memberships” to homeowners who want to hold revenue generating parties (“Home Spots”) and commercial establishments (“Hut Spots”). From the Hut Villa facebook page you can surmise that the venues are available by unique names such as Hut Mansion, the Henderson Mill house, which has a Chamblee 30341 address. 

The larger parties that raised the ire of local residents recently as events became more obvious, including shuttled parking from Embry Hills Shopping Center.

One, on June 1 (Facebook link below) spilled outdoors with cars on neighboring lots was shut down by police. The operator promised to have no more similar gatherings in the future. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.824905447527392.1073741960.184647814886495&type=3

So, like with Mallayev, “3016” is again at the center of controversy, by Henderson Mill standards anyway. The police department has confirmed that an investigation was ongoing as of mid-July (the case was referred to the vice unit) and DeKalb’s code enforcement department was asked to visit the premises by zoning officials. It’s difficult to pinpoint who officials would “find” against in either a nuisance or criminal case due to the separation of responsibility: owner Khan; the lessee (Hut Spot agent) or Hut Nation Owner Oshyemi.

School System: Prune or Die?

Article I posted on DeKalb SchoolWatch blog
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2011/08/are-contraction-and-divestiture-in.html


“In Texas, the Dallas suburb of Keller is about to charge parents who want to put their kids on the school bus. The charge will be $185 per semester for one child, $135 for the second.”

Add that to the plethora of news items regarding city bankruptcies, police force cuts and closed libraries while Federal support goes the way.....

Northlake CID may be too small to energize

On Tucker and NorthDruid Hills-Briarcliff Patch (es)

http://tucker.patch.com/blog_posts/northlake-cid-too-small-to-energize

I’m not promoting a Northlake Community Improvement District (CID) explicitly. Questions abound, but if we should have one, one aspect is worth discussing here: What size does it need to be to work, from recruitment to payoff?
.....more at link

New Chick Fil-A Prototype Opens in Northlake

Northlake has been home to arriving Chick-fil-A franchise operator Brad Spratte all of his life. Spratte is a 1983 graduate of Lakeside High School, having been ...(read more)

http://northdruidhills.patch.com/blog_posts/lakeside-high-grad-opens-new-chick-fil-a-in-northlake

Northlake area shuttle pilot Eric Boe on second flight

February 17 launch Shuttle Discovery's Final Trip
Former Henderson High School only school with two NASA astronaut graduates

This article originally appeared on this blog in 2009

Astronaut Alumnus Visits Northlake School’s “Henderson History Day”

By Tom Doolittle

On February 19, 2009, Eric Boe, one of two astronauts who graduated from DeKalb’s Henderson High School (HHS) will speak at Henderson Middle School and Evansdale Elementary. Boe (HHS ‘83), NASA Space Shuttle Endeavor’s Pilot this past November, will be the featured speaker at Henderson at 10 AM and Evansdale at 1:00 PM. Boe’s flight in November was a 16-day journey outfitting the space station for an additional “wing”. The 44 year-old Air Force colonel entered the astronaut corps on his first try in 2000.

Remarkably, Henderson High School had two graduates that are now NASA astronauts. Thomas H. Marshburn, M.D., a 1979 HHS graduate, is scheduled as flight surgeon on Endeavour’s next trip in April.

 

Eric Boe (Henderson High School ’83) Thomas Marshburn (Henderson High School ’79)

The assembly at Henderson is part of Career Day and “Henderson History Day”, an annual event that attracts locals with stories, records and memorabilia about the area near Northlake Mall. The event promotes, raises funds and collects information for The Henderson Project, described on the Henderson Middle School website as:

“The 2005-2006 school year launched a new archival and research project for the students at Henderson Middle School. A committee of dedicated teachers and the Henderson Project Booster Club working collaboratively with the Henderson Middle Media Center and the DeKalb County Historical Society are actively pursuing this ambitious project…Our mission is to tell the story of our community for the past, present and future by utilizing student initiatives and community resources to fulfill our dream.”

The passion for the project lays with school Teacher-Librarian, Barbara Heller and social studies teacher Madeline Foard. The school lobby and media center reflect the community’s affection for the area history and it is a popular subject for student social studied projects. Heller said she found many of the books that needed to be “weeded” from the library after she arrived (from Cobb County in 2001) were leftovers from Henderson High's collection, adding, ”This prompted us to work with our students to create a time capsule on the web that would document items of historical interest.” Students author the website, audio and video record interviews for the Project website, scan documents, host visitors and usher them to classrooms to share their careers, interests and personal experiences.


School as Jump-off to Historic Landmarks
Now 130 years after Greenville Henderson’s death, a ninety-minute walking tour can still be made from Henderson Middle School to five historic, if relatively poorly marked, “landmarks”, in the absence of a better word. The sites define the epicenter of Greenville Henderson’s land, which he assembled beginning in the late 1820’s. (1) The civil war heritage sign on Henderson Mill Road at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church (and Henderson Mill Creek) elicits interest from passersby, who often use the church’s lower parking lot to view the sign. The sign says that (2) the flat area next to the creek that is now the parking lot served as a one-night camp for the Union Army during the Battle of Atlanta campaign. The sign provides coordinates to (3) the former grist mill location, 400 yards into the woods across the road. (4) Henderson’s homestead is reputedly on a hill overlooking the church between two large oaks on what is now Lauderdale Drive. (5) Greenville Henderson’s vandalized grave site is a stone’s throw from the middle school, on a hill at the top of the Glenrose subdivision.

These locations individually lie between 200 yards (Glenrose Hill grave site) and one half-mile (Lauderdale Drive) from the school building opened one year shy of the centennial of Greenville Henderson’s death (1879). Today, there is no evidence of the former mill, save the remnants of a stone bridge or dam foundation in the creek and the road that led to it—the current driveway to what was Lucille Bolton Chamblee’s (now deceased) farm house. The driveway appears to be the continuation of Midvale Road, but was actually the original route of Henderson Mill Road past the mill. The nine-acre Chamblee/Bolton property has been for sale for about three years—what was once part of 50 acres of former Henderson land.

Peculiarly, all of these historic sites can found easily by pinpointing the intersection of three zip codes; those of 30341 (Chamblee), 30345 (Atlanta N.E.) and 30084 (Tucker).


The School Record—A suburban story
Due to astronaut Boe’s visit, much of the focus this year is on the former Henderson High School from its difficult opening (Henderson’s entry classes spent the fall semester of 1967 in the basements of Lakeside and Tucker High Schools), to closing only 27 years later. Many Henderson alumni, teachers and students are expected to attend and lend their stories to the project. Current middle school employees Carroll Nordan, Carson Collins and Connie Buckelew have been at the school since the 1970s.

In many cases, the alumni have direct ties to the land owners that helped the area from its agrarian roots to a suburban bedroom community. Jan Honea (now Jan Appling), HHS class of 1972, will be at Henderson Middle School on February 19 with bells on. Appling’s father, M.C. Honea (now deceased) built the Evergreen Hills neighborhood from family land. “This was all family land, they were our working farms, dairy farms”, Appling said. The Honeas and relatives have been in the area between Briarcliff Roads and Lawrenceville Highway for five generations, their arrival at a time when Henderson’s mill was likely still grinding grain (the mill burned down in 1911, in disuse since the late 1800s). “My family married with the Payton Randolph family, from which Payton and Randolph Roads are named.”

Honea-Appling hopes to share some anecdotes about suburban expansion here, like the role that automobile dealers played here as the area built out. “The Curries, Popes and Willets all lived here (all prominent Atlanta car businesses).” The energetic Mary Kay Cosmetics representative also dates the arrival of central heating and air conditioning to 1962 in what is now considered the Northlake area, saying that Mr. Honea put the first system here in his own home.

Ms Appling serves as the reunion secretary for HHS’s 1970 through 1972 (later changed to 1970 through 1975) graduates. She says these alumni are very passionate about keeping the school’s memories alive after the school’s closing because they were the first classes and some shared the aforementioned difficult circumstances under which the school was opened. Henderson High’s closing in 1994 was attributed to dwindled enrollment and need for a middle school. The school’s student population peaked at well over 2,100 students in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. When it closed, the school had fewer than 1,000 students, presumably from the area’s homeowners aging and increased affluence.

Henderson High school has had its share of notable alumni. Local attorney Robert Ken (Bobby) Woo (Henderson ’85) was born as the 200 millionth American and had his baby picture on the cover of Life Magazine in 1967. Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Pete Ladd (’74) pitched in the 1982 World Series. Bob Wolfe (’75) is Senior Vice President of major league baseball’s Washington Nationals. Others include Pike’s Nurseries owners Randy and Gary Pike, WSB radio personality and Director of Marketing Neil Williamson (’76), Peter Conlon, Music Midtown founder and concert promoter, William Bradley (Brad) Bryant (’72) , Chairman, DeKalb County School Board, appointed by Governor Perdue to State Board of Education in 2003.

Tom Doolittle is a 15-year Northlake resident with Wife Evelyn Lee and children James (Lakeside 2007) and Katherine-Lee (Lakeside 2013). Doolittle was a charter Trustee of the Northlake Community Alliance in 2000 and 2001, convened the Northlake Business Forum between 2002 and 2004 and writes a Northlake blog.

Lakeside Academic Bowl Team in State Semi's

Academic Team Advances!

Our academic team of Anne Grosse, Jacob Altman, Abaho Katabarwa, and Aliya Khan progressed to the semi-finals of WSB-TV's High Q. They beat Habersham County 895 to 155 last Tuesday evening--one of the highest scores in High Q's 25-year history.

You can watch the Habersham match on WSB next Sunday, February 27th!

Lakeside-kids Valhalla task force to raise $50K for school patio

Lakeside High Students Hope to Raise $50K of Valhalla Project
by Tom Doolittle (via NorthDruid Hills/Briarcliff Patch)


A student task force will plan events and other promotions to help raise the cash, which will go toward improving athletic facilities.
http://northdruidhills.patch.com/articles/lakeside-high-students-hope-to-raise-50k-of-valhalla-project-money

"Lakeside High School students have stepped up to Principal Joe Reed’s challenge to lead part of the Briarcliff-Lavista area school’s first private capital funding campaign, The Valhalla Project... (more..)"