Who Is Milton's Latest Land Developer?

By Maggie West / Staff and D. Jefferson Bean / Staff / Beacon Media

Talk about running out of gas.

Milton’s Feb. 16 Planning Commission meeting denied D Squared Development the necessary rezoning to build a gas station on the acute-angled intersection of Bethany Bend and Hwy. 9. The parcel’s disillusioned owner, Mehdi Jannatkhah, left the meeting without comment. An attempt was made by this newspaper to contact him at 2490 Dallas Hwy. the address on the petition. The ride down Dallas Hwy. in Marietta led to a chain-link-fenced drainage ditch between two banks: 2480 and 2510.

Afterward, telephone calls to the city of Marietta’s Business License Division and Cobb County’s Chamber of Commerce resulted in numerous dead-end database searches. There were no records found for D Squared Development.

TWISTS, TURNS, AND TWIRLS, OH MY

Before a standing-room-only crowd of 64, on March 15, D Squared Development, LLC prepared itself for a third round of revisions and negotiations. Milton’s City Council voted 6-1 to defer the final decision until its May 17 session, however, sending it one more time through the tedious cycle. Milton’s Planning Commission will review the revised plans on April 26.

Or will they?

In resident Heidi Sowder’s words, “I don’t see the community changing their minds, and the impact the gas station will have at that location will still be the same.” Apparently, Councilman Joe Longoria agreed. Deeming the deferment “a waste of time,” he cast the sole “nay” vote.

In the film noir world of Milton politics, though, the council’s decision was merely the tip of the iceberg.

SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT

After the hearing, Jannatkhah was questioned outside the city hall attempting to clarify the incorrect address on the petition. Jannatkhah said it was an honest mistake, replied, “Oh, it should’ve been 2489, which is the address of the gas station I own across the street.” When asked why the petition was filed under the physical address of the Shell Food Mart at 2489, instead of D Squared Development’s actual location, Jannatkhah snapped, “I have an address. It’s on Peachtree Street, downtown,” and walked away.

An internet search and a call to the Fulton County Property Tax Division yielded the address of 1800 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 615 for D Squared Development. Following both leads, a trip to said address was in order. There was no suite 615 on the sixth floor, though.

Further inquiry led to the building’s mailing office, wherein an employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that he still returns undeliverable correspondence addressed to D Squared. “You missed it,” he said. “Two days ago, I sent back a stack marked ‘return to sender.’” Also, the management office says that no such company had ever occupied the phantom suite.

To Cobb and Fulton Counties, and the cities of Atlanta and Marietta, D Squared Development was a veritable Avalon or El Dorado — the stuff of fairytales. Yet another internet search revealed that the only noteworthy enterprise of the same name was a completely unrelated tech firm in La Grande, Oregon.

But this nebulous LLC somehow owns a parcel of land in Milton, Georgia and has plans to build on it.

WILL THE REAL MEHDI JANNATKHAH PLEASE STAND UP?

Manta.com lists Mehdi J. Khan as the owner of the Shell Food Mart at 2489 Dallas Hwy. Is this Jannatkhah? Blockshopper.com indicates that he owns a $2,000,000 house in Los Angeles, under the name Jannat Medhi Khah. Same person? Variations of his name appear on numerous websites: Khah, Jannat Khah, Jannat-Khah, and Jannatkhah — all surnames. In most cases, he is mentioned with his wife, who also changes her last names from Pereira to Khah to Jannatkhah and back again.

Additional research confirmed the existence of D Squared with several other LLCs, all connected to Jannatkhah.

Further investigation may lead to a veritable rabbit hole of information. After all, who writes the incorrect address on an application that becomes public record?