City Expects to Take Northridge In Foreclosure, Demolish Mall

From the Article:

The end is nigh for Northridge Mall, according to city officials. Milwaukee could take possession of the long-vacant mall by the end of the month through foreclosure. Demolition could begin in the summer.

That’s according to a multi-department presentation made Tuesday to the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.

The mall’s Chinese ownership group, U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group, missed a Dec. 20 redemption deadline in a property tax foreclosure case. The final action on the case is expected to occur on Jan. 25.

“That’s kind of like checkmate,” said committee chair Alderman Michael Murphy.

The foreclosure could end a 2019 court case through which Black Spruce is contesting a raze order. The case has been pending before Judge William Sosnay while the parties await an appeals court ruling on the validity of the raze order.

The city intends to begin demolition in the next two months on the one portion of the mall structure it owns, the former Boston Store. Demolition of the remainder of the mall structure would begin in the summer.

After clearing the site by the fall of 2025, the city would have a 58-acre site ready for redevelopment.

Formally announced in December, a $15 million grant from the state’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation would pay for demolishing the approximately 900,000-square-foot mall property, removing any environmental contaminants and preparing the site.

But Ald. Robert Bauman, an attorney, said the city might want to proceed with caution because Black Spruce would have 90 days to appeal the foreclosure and could get a cleared property back. The company could also win its appeal. But deputy city attorney Odalo J. Ohiku said the proper court guidance was followed in issuing the raze order following an earlier successful appeal. Assistant city attorney Hannah Jahn said the property has a negative value, given the cost to demolish the blighted structure, so Black Spruce’s damages would be limited. Bauman voted with his colleagues to move the proposal forward.

The mall, located near N. 76th Street and W. Brown Deer Road, closed in 2003 after 31 years of operation. A predecessor of Black Spruce acquired the property for $6 million in 2008. It proposed creating an Asian marketplace, but those plans have never advanced.

More than a half million dollars in unpaid contempt fines have been levied against Black Spruce for its failure to comply with a 2019 agreement to secure the property. At least four fires took place at the mall in 2022 and it has been a target for trespassing. Another fire took place in November.

A report Tuesday estimated that the city has spent more than $1 million and thousands of hours on securing the property. The Department of Neighborhood Services is said to have performed a daily inspection for more than 500 consecutive days.