Mallek’s Service closed in June of 2022, after eighty-one years pumping gas and fixing cars at the Dexter-Jackson fork. But one day last fall, there was Durand, working on a car—and explaining why it had been so hard to locate its new owner.

Untouched for more than a year after its closing in 2022, the prominently situated west-side gas station is buzzing with activity as Ihsan “Tony” Karim remodels. | Photo: Mark Bialek

Though its name hadn’t changed since Kasimir Mallek opened it with a partner in 1941, John Mendler owned the station from 1976 until his death in October 2021. Mendler was revered for his honest and affordable work, and his sudden passing left many customers bereft—and wondering what would happen to the station.

Durand was one of the employees who kept Mallek’s going while Mendler’s estate was resolved. He says the transfer happened last February, “with Mendler’s family receiving the property. None of them lived in the area, so they sold everything to Tony.”

City records confirm that that building was sold in May 2022 to Dexter Jackson Property LLC. State records identify its registered agent as Ihsan Karim of Farmington Hills and connect him to several other businesses, including the Summit Party Store on N. Main and the Party Center, in the little shopping strip behind Mallek’s.

Asking for Ihsan at the stores had gone nowhere. Asking for Tony was more fruitful. Karim responded to a Facebook message and set up a meeting at the Party Center a week later.

Karim says he’d talked to Mendler about a sale before his death. “I was interested in buying the gas station because he was an older man, and we wanted to keep his legacy there.” He wouldn’t share the price, and it wasn’t reported to the city.

Karim says he plans to reopen as a gas station, but “getting a permit to remodel the building” held things up. He says it arrived in September, and he’s aiming to open by April. “We’ve been here for twenty years, and we will continue providing good services for Ann Arbor.”