Dana street in Warren has been closed for construction for eight years. A city council candidate wants to know what construction has actually taken place.

The street has been closed off from the corner of North Park Avenue to Paige Avenue NE since 2017. The request to do so had been brought forward by Christopher Alan, who owns property on the street that he intended to develop into automatic parking systems company Auto Parkit.

Two other companies owned by Alan, Dorian Capital Investments Inc. and Raider Trading Limited LLC, took up residence in nearby buildings in 2018: at the former Delphi plant at 650 Griswold Avenue, and the former Packard Electric plant at 480 Dana Street.

In 2024, Allan told 21 News "Everything that we fund here we fund ourself, we fund through organic growth … and you have to be patient with that growth because it takes longer."

Candidate for Warren 2nd Ward City Council seat Tina Milner said she is curious to know what renovation work has been done at the site since 2017, since it appears that work has stalled.

She alleged that the current city council has not done their due diligence by meeting every 90 days to vote on whether to keep the road closed, and has not been successful in getting a clear update on what progress has been made.

"Mr. Alan has been invited to give an update city council two times, and has not shown up," Milner recounted.

Milner also expressed concern that Alan has not kept commitments that were made to the community in pursuit of financial incentives and benefits for his businesses. She tells 21 News that in addition to her own research, she is asking city and state leaders to investigate the issue.

"I do know that Brownfield money was allocated to that site for cleanup," she said. "We need to hold people accountable when they're coming in, getting tax abatements, Brownfield money, tax credit, historic preservation credits-- we need to make sure they're doing what they said they were going to do."

21 News reached out to Christopher Alan, who declined to interview or provide a statement on the record at this time.