Devoted dentist spends his savings toward $1 million cost to rebuild on Chicago Av.

As he peered outside the front door of his office, Dr. Ali Barbarawi pointed out the other businesses that once surrounded him.

There's an empty lot now where a Popeye's stood before being burned down last year. Uncle Hugo's, the bookstore on the other side of his dental clinic, is gone and will relocate. The rubble of a furniture store at the corner was cleared away a month or two ago.

But Barbarawi reopened his Chicago Lake Family Dental office in mid-April, a sign of hope along Chicago Avenue just north of Lake Street.

"We like serving the community, and now we're back," he said. "I'm just happy that we're serving the patients again."

His patients reflect the diverse neighborhood, a mix of Somali, Latino, African American and white residents. He sees everyone from children to elderly patients who need dentures.

Many went without dental care for nearly a year while he was rebuilding. That's because most of them are low-income and it's hard to find dentists who accept Medicaid payments, as he does, he said.

After rioters looted, set fire, and destroyed his clinic last May, Barbarawi knew right away that he wanted to rebuild.

"We feel like we have a bond between the office and patients," he said. "I knew I wanted to stay here and continue."

He started cleaning up immediately, and soon had contractors and engineers on-site. But it wasn't easy or cheap. "It was very tough," he said.

It cost more than $1 million to rebuild and buy new equipment. Insurance only covered about 40%, he said.

He raised $95,000 from a GoFundMe campaign and received a $100,000 grant from the Lake Street Council.

"I poured all of my savings into it," he said, and took out loans to pay for the rest.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't salvage anything. So we had to start over," he said as he walked around the new modern treatment rooms.

Barbarawi, who is Palestinian American, grew up in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem. He returned to the U.S., where he was born, to attend college at Hamline University in St. Paul. He went to dental school in Pittsburgh and then moved to Chicago, where he worked with underserved communities.

He and his wife decided to move back to Minnesota to raise their children.

In 2018, he bought the dental clinic at Chicago and Lake from a retiring dentist. When he took over, he expanded the number of Medicaid patients.

The rebuilt office has a slightly bigger waiting area. He wants to fill one corner with books, toys, and games for children, like he used to, once it's more COVID-safe to do so.

He also bought the vacant bookstore next door, with hopes of one day expanding and bringing on dental specialists.

Before the riots, his dental practice served about 800 families, or approximately 3,000 patients.

"I want to see everyone coming back," he said. "I want to see this area prosper again."

Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113 Twitter: @kavitakumar