An artist is suing the city for nearly $5 million after crews tore down a building containing dozens of his murals before he could preserve them.
Olayami Dabls, the artist and owner of the Dabls MBAD African Bead Museum, owned a city block composed of five buildings at the corner of Grand River and West Grand River Boulevard. The affected building, located on Vinewood Street and Grand River Avenue, was slated to become a full-scale bead museum until it suffered a partial collapse and was later demolished by the city in 2024.
Dabls attempted to delay demolition through a temporary restraining order request in Wayne County Circuit Court on July 16, 2024, but on that same day, the city moved forward with demolition, according to the federal lawsuit filed April 10.
The city issued Dabls two blight tickets and an emergency correction order on May 31, 2024, then sent inspectors to the building the following month. In June, Rochelle Riley, who then served as director of Detroit’s Office of Arts, Culture & Entrepreneurship (ACE), told Dabls she would help fund the rehabilitation of the museum, according to the lawsuit. Riley “verbally committed $25,000” to help pay for repairs, according to the lawsuit.
However, later that month, Riley “abruptly withdrew” her support and told Dabls he needed to foot nearly $500,000 within three days or the city would tag the building for demolition, the lawsuit reads. Riley then said she would check with the city’s contractor on whether the estimated cost to maintain the building could be decreased, but Dabls claims in the suit he did not hear back.
Riley, whose six-year tenure with the city ended with former Mayor Mike Duggan’s third term, said she never promised Dabls or any other artists any money during her tenure.
“$25,000? My office didn’t have $25 to give to an artist,” Riley said. “And I will not believe that Dabls is even aware that I’m named in this lawsuit without hearing it from him. The ACE Office had nothing to do with building demolitions. I heard about it on the news.”
Riley did approach some funders to see if any would be interested in saving the building, to no avail. But before the building was torn down, she hired a photographer to take photos of every mural on the building so the images could be saved. Dabls was offered the images, without strings or cost, to sell to make money, Riley said. He declined. And last summer, the ACE office chose the alley next to the Dabls Bead Museum for one of nine city-sponsored arts alleys. Riley also was invited to – and did – speak at the annual Dabls Bead Festival in the alley in June 2025.
“I think the world of Dabls, or I wouldn’t have done all I was able to do for him. I still think the world of him,” she said.
On June 27, 2024, Dabls was issued his first demolition order, which stated he could appeal. Artists and supporters resisted and rallied to preserve the building, though on July 3, 2024, city officials approved its emergency demolition. Two days later, Dabls submitted an appeal request to the Department of Hearing and Appeals to prevent the demolition and destruction of the murals, according to the lawsuit.
Following the request, crews began fencing off the area, which was expected to face demolition the morning of July 9, 2024.
Dabls attended the appeals hearing on July 10, 2024, and five days later, received a response that the city denied his appeal.
The hearing officer told Dabls the reason was because he “could not confirm that he had money to effectuate the rehabilitation of the structure, it must be immediately demolished,” according to the lawsuit.
Dabls then requested a temporary restraining order July 16, 2024 through the Wayne County Third Circuit Court and provided notice of the pending restraining order request to LaJuan Counts, the city’s former demolition director, Dave Bell, director of the Building Safety Engineering and Environmental department and then-City Council President Mary Sheffield, according to the lawsuit. However, crews proceeded with demolition on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.
Alake Williams, Dabls’ daughter and museum director, forwarded the Free Press to Dabls’ attorney, Andrew Gerber, for comment.
“Unfortunately, the damage has been done, the murals have been completely destroyed,” said Gerber. “Since the damage is done, the only direction is to seek compensation for my client.”
The lawsuit was filed under the Visual Artists Rights Act, which requires 90 days after notice of demolition to remove or pay for the removal of the murals.
The lawsuit claims the city “never attempted to obtain a waiver of rights prior to ordering the willful destruction of Dabls’s Murals. The City never obtained a signed written instrument transferring the rights in the Murals to the City. Defendants did not afford Dabls the required 90 days after receiving notice of ordered demolition to either remove the work or to pay for its removal as required” under the Visual Artists Rights Act.
As a result of the destruction of murals, Dabls incurred “significant financial losses,” according to the lawsuit.
The city did not respond to a request for comment.
Dana Afana is the Detroit City Hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
Duante Beddingfield is the arts and culture reporter for the Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit demolished his murals. He’s suing for $5M
Reporting by Dana Afana and Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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