A business owner at Valley West Mall who said he was denied more space to expand because of his race is seeking to sue the mall’s interim management company.
Suruosh Alehy, who originally is from Iran, has owned and operated Five Star Direct Discount in Valley West Mall since 2020. He alleges in his complaint that mall management said he was not allowed to rent more space for new businesses because they “did not wish to attract the ‘sort of people’ which frequented (the) Plaintiffs’ business, including minority race individuals.”
Alehy has made a request to the judge overseeing Valley West Mall’s foreclosure case to file the lawsuit against receiver Krista Freitag, owner of E3 Realty Advisors, which has acted as the mall’s receiver since June 2022. Freitag took over after U.S. Bank filed a foreclosure action against the West Des Moines mall, alleging it failed to make payments on a $50 million loan. Freitag then hired Chicago-based Spinoso Management Group to handle operations for the property.