The long fight over whether to tear down the former Northridge Mall on Milwaukee's far northwest side may approach a turning point as early as Friday afternoon.
A Milwaukee County judge wants to see the owner submit a demolition plan for the property. And if that doesn't happen, the city of Milwaukee is being asked for a tear-down plan.
WUWM recently went to the site of the former mall and made these observations:
In what should be a busy, pre-holiday shopping season, you can't but notice the contrast. Weeds and other vegetation are growing through the parking lot. The buildings look horrible. The whole property is surrounded by a decaying chain-link fence. It is not a vibrant place for commerce and social interaction. It's one of the biggest eyesores in southeastern Wisconsin—maybe the biggest.Chuck Quirmbach
Now, if you think, dear readers, that our description is a little harsh, wait until you hear from a man who was sitting in his van outside the home improvement store near the former mall. He gave us his name as "Rusty" and notes Northridge closed in 2003.
"It's time to do something. It's been 20 years doing nothing, but rottin'," Rusty tells WUWM.
Rusty says like many Milwaukee area residents, he has fond memories of the mall.
"Takin' the bus here when I was 16, and going Christmas shopping, and visiting a mall that was outstanding. That's what I remember," he says.
Rusty says maybe the Northridge land should be the site of the new youth detention center that the state wants to build a few miles to the south. Or, he says, maybe a new district police station should go in.
Also in the parking lot, we caught up with David Cripe. He used to think highly of the mall.
"It was like the premium shopping location. It was where, if you really wanted something of quality or value, that's where you used to go," Cripe says.
Now, Cripe says he's well aware of the problems at the former home of anchor tenants like Boston Store and Gimbels.
"The resources that are being put toward it, toward controlling its decaying condition, meaning vandalism. The kids are getting in there and starting fires. It needs to go. It needs to be leveled, and something new comes in its place," Cripe emphasizes.
The city of Milwaukee has been pushing for the demolition plan that the property owners, China-based Black Spruce, are supposed to supply by late Friday afternoon. Just in case the company fails to do so, Circuit Judge Willam Sosnay has ordered the city to come forward with its own plan by the end of next week.
The issue would then be who would pay for the demolition, and clean up costs of harmful building materials like asbestos?
Neither the City Attorney's office or Black Spruce's local lawyer responded to our calls for comment.
State Rep. LaKeshia Myers represents the mall property and nearby neighborhoods. She says the mall's failure is partly to blame for other store closings on Brown Deer Rd.
"Over the past 20 years, we've seen kind of a total decline in the number of stores. I think we were ahead of what was to come in the death of big box stores. We felt it first," Myers tells WUWM.
Myers says she would like to see the Northridge buildings go. She says she'd be glad to urge the state's economic development agencies to try bring in entities that pay property taxes
"We don't need another church. I'm just going to be honest. My neighbors have said that at several different meetings. We don't need something that's not going to help the tax base," she says.
Until then, the only thing that may grow is the decay at Northridge.
