South Anthony business forced to say goodbye after 3 decades

Mayor Sharon Tucker calls Jack Dadou a 'community hero'

FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---For 30 years, the Dadou family has been operating a business on South Anthony Boulevard, a kind of neighborhood phone and necessity shop.

Can’t pay your utility bill? Jack Dadou has got your back until you can.

Need a backpack for your school kid? He’s got one.

And at Thanksgiving when everyone eats turkey? “I make sure they’ve got one “so they can eat the same as me.”

His father was here first. Jack Dadou and his family have been at this store for decades. Now the landlord wants him out.

Voicelink Wireless, a mom-and-pop store at the corner of South Anthony and Paulding Road on the city’s southeast side, sells new and used cell phones and fixes cell phones, besides handing out thousands of “government phones” for those who can’t afford this most necessary of telephonic devices. 

Besides all manner of cell phones, Voicelink offers a range of urban sports wear including hats, shirts, jogging suits, boots and shoes.

At one point, Voicelink was one of the biggest concert ticket sellers here, Dadou said.

“We see about 100 customers a day,” Dadou estimated. “Electric, water, gas, Xfinity, we take those payments.”

Some neighborhood residents depend on Voicelink for more than a phone.

“We have seniors who really only trust Jack and that team (when they’re) trying to use tech on their cell phones,” Fort Wayne mayor, Sharon Tucker said.

Tucker calls Dadou a “community hero for this area of the town. He came right in and invested in the community.”

The services the store provides are set to abruptly end August 20. Dadou has been ordered to vacate the property by the landlord, the Indianapolis-based Lushin Group.

Dadou thought his relationship with this new landlord, located at 5655 Castle Creek Parkway North Dr. in Indianapolis, was amicable until he received a July 20 email from the firm’s scion, Spenser Lushin. 

Dadou, who had been month-to-month basis for rent, was ordered to sign a new lease by Aug. 1.

Dadou's business will be in peril with zoning delays to move it to South Lafayette. (Photo credit: Keristen Baker)

Dadou says the lease was signed, but he and his attorneys never heard from Lushin until a week after the deadline.

“We got the letter saying you have to evacuate your building in 10 days,” Dadou said, which is Aug. 20.

There was some negotiation over a pay chart - the rent was to go up from $1700 to $1900 a month with annual increases “per the time period.” Terms included a renewal in five years, Dadou said.

Dadou’s attorney, Stephen Harants,  asked for a 30 to 60-day reprieve.

“Thirty to 60 will go a lot to keep us out of court,” Dadou’s attorney told Lushin in an email exchange. 

Lushin’s attorney, Jordan Huttenlocker, sent a reply on Aug. 5 to Harrants: “Unfortunately, my client is not interested in negotiating any new lease. As such, your client will need to vacate the Leased Premises by August 10.” Now the deadline is the 20th.

Dadou said he couldn’t believe his business was being ousted after so many years and has reached out to movers and shakers in Fort Wayne for help to stay put.

Tucker said she has contacted the company hoping to reverse Lushin’s demand that Dadou leave.

 His only other option is to move to another property he owns, 4601 Lafayette St.,  where he had the zoning changed to residential and had plans to build apartments there.

Now, in order to move his business there, not only will zoning have to be changed back to commercial, but Dadou will have to move his entire business from a location so well known to local residents many of them walk there, he said.

Earlier, Dadou made a pitch to Spenser Lushin, hoping to buy the property which includes one building occupied by Voicelink and Cap ’n Cork.

In anticipation of that, Dadou said he drove from Detroit “all the way to Indy” in seven hours, believing he was going to talk about the potential acquisition. 

“My dad (Paul Lushin) couldn’t make it so you’ve got to deal with me,” Dadou said he was told.

Paul Lushin’s name is on the sales contract dating to September 2022 for the .8-acre property. Sales price was $592,000, according to information from the Allen County Assessor.

Up until a few years ago, the Lebamoff family was Dadou’s landlord.

“We had such a beautiful relationship,” Dadou said of Andy Lebamoff and Joe Doust, brothers-in-law who sold their business, Cap ’n Cork, to Big Red Liquors in 2021.

Now, Dadou is trying to rally local leaders to help him save the business with the clock running out. He’s been given until Aug. 20 to evacuate.

“I just left the Cathedral,” Dadou said Tuesday afternoon. “I pray every minute.”

The Probable Cause reached out to Spenser Lushin by email Tuesday and by text message and phone today. If there is an update, we will include it in this story.