Milwaukee judge stays city’s request to take over the Northridge Mall

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By Ethan Duran

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By Ethan Duran
[email protected]

The City of Milwaukee will not acquire the abandoned Northridge Mall after Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge William Sosnay on Friday rejected the city’s request.

The court rejected the request because it would contradict the court’s authority under the appeals case, Sosnay said at the hearing. China-based U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group, Inc. is appealing the city’s 2019 order to raze the property under the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

“The court is not going to take that action at this time because I think that would be premature, and it would be contrary to what the court’s authority is under the appellate statute. If and when the Court of Appeals decides, and should it affirm this court’s ruling, the court would again entertain a motion of that nature,” Sosnay said.

As previously reported by The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee-based Phoenix Investors LLC offered to buy the mall from Black Spruce. This news first broke during a hearing in March, and the judge has stood firm that the ownership change wouldn’t stop the city’s order to tear the mall down.

Phoenix Investors’ offer to purchase the mall will expire May 1, court officials said. The developer still plans to buy the property from Black Spruce, attorney Christopher Kloth said at the hearing.

The city is evaluating bids to raze the former Boston Store connected to the Northridge Mall. City officials de-energized the building in 2018 and performed as asbestos abatement in 2021. The city acquired the department store in 2017, and officials said the building is now a shell.

The current zoning of the Boston Store allows for commercial uses, a Department of City Development official said at the hearing. The city has no funding in line to redevelop the property after its razed, the official added.

The city has until May 11 to respond to Black Spruce’s appeal brief, court officials said.

Black Spruce bought the former Northridge Mall in 2008 for $6 million, company director Li Yang said at the hearing. Yang said the company wanted to use the property for an ethanol production facility and one of the directors worked in business for factories in China. The company invested in hotels in China and other southeast Asian countries, Yang said.

The next hearing date will be June 20.

As previously reported, the court found Black Spruce in contempt of court when the three Black Spruce principals failed to show up in court previously. Phoenix Investors and Black Spruce notified the city and the court only hours before the court session started on St. Patrick’s Day.

In 2019, Black Spruce announced plans to turn the mall into a marketplace for merchandise and goods from Asia.

Last year, several fires allegedly set by trespassers burned inside the unsecured property, sparking concern from Milwaukee fire officials for first responders who had to deal with broken glass and a gypsum roof. Judge Sosnay ordered sanctions on Black Spruce for each day the property went without fencing or 24-hour security.

The former mall has been closed since 2003.