Former Northridge Mall is unsecured and dangerous, city attorney says
Milwaukee’s former Northridge Mall remains unsecured and dangerous — even as its owner fights the city’s efforts to demolish the massive building.
That’s according to a new court report from the city attorney’s office.
That report was filed with Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Sosnay after city officials on Friday inspected Northridge, located near West Brown Deer Road and North 76th Street.
“There is no 24 hour on-site professional security, the access points have not been secured, the rubbish has not been removed from the property, and the landscaping has not been cut back to appropriate standards,” according to the filing from Theresa Montag, an assistant city attorney.
An attorney for Northridge owner U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group Inc. didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s request for comment.
Sosnay on Aug. 15 ordered Black Spruce to secure the property by Friday or face fines of $2,000 a day.
Sosnay made that ruling after finding Black Spruce in contempt of court for failing to keep the deteriorating mall secured under a 2019 judge’s ruling from when Black Spruce sued the city to overturn a city raze order.
That raze order, which in March was overturned on appeal, has been scheduled for review at an Oct. 3 hearing by Sosnay.
Meanwhile, Black Spruce’s failure to comply with Sosnay’s order is endangering the community, according to Montag’s report.
Fire Chief Aaron Lipski and others have testified that Northridge is a hazard to firefighters who’ve fought four blazes there in July and August, as well as police officers responding to trespass calls and those who trespass against the mall.
Northridge’s conditions include
broken doors that have allowed people to enter the property.
The Friday inspection “showed deplorable conditions with debris and broken glass littering the floors throughout the mall area making walking treacherous for anyone, but especially first responders who race into danger on every call,” Montag’s report said.
Lipski told the Journal Sentinel Tuesday that firefighters are taking those conditions into account when responding to calls at Northridge.
“While we MUST extend a tremendous amount of risk to save lives, we must also do so in a manner not adding to the loss of life in a hopeless pursuit,” Lipski said in an email.
“We have adjusted our approach to that specific complex already and will maintain that posture,” he said.
The report said, “Other dangers within the mall include holes in the floor, dangling wires, unsecured electrical panels, and unlit areas of cavernous space.
“The City is also concerned about social media enticing individuals into entering the mall and starting fires in order to boast of their escapades. This is much easier to accomplish because the buildings remain unsecured.”
Northridge closed in 2003.
Site sold to investment group in 2008
The 100-acre site was sold in 2008 to U.S. Black Spruce, an affiliate of a Chinese investment group.
Black Spruce says it wants to create a trade mart for Chinese companies to sell clothing, toys, furniture and other items to U.S. retailers. But no work has been done at the site, and the city in 2019 issued a condemnation order.
That could result in the city acquiring Northridge, demolishing the mall and selling its land for new development, which could include light industrial projects.
Similar projects have redeveloped other nearby former big box stores, including a Walmart, Target and Toys R Us.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Pocan in 2020 dismissed the company’s lawsuit challenging a city raze order.
State law allows a raze order when the estimated cost of repairs exceeds 50% of a building’s value.
The preliminary repair cost estimate is $6 million, according to the city Department of Neighborhood Services. The building’s assessed value is just over $81,000.
But the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in March ruled that Pocan’s decision was improperly based “on the cost to repair the buildings to make them compliant with code requirements for developed buildings open to the public when their current intended uses are as vacant, unoccupied buildings that are closed to the public.”
As a result, the city’s estimated cost included repairs to heating, plumbing and electrical systems needed to open the buildings to the public — instead of more limited work, according to the appeals court decision.