MILWAUKEE – After the Milwaukee Fire Department was called to the former Northridge Mall property for a report of yet another fire set at the location, Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski is fed up.
“I cannot overstate my frustration,” Lipski said in a Thursday, November 2 press release. “This property remains inherently dangerous to Milwaukee firefighters who are repeatedly called to reports of fires at this location.”
The latest fire is the seventh time the Milwaukee Fire Department has been called to Northridge in the last 15 months. In this case, firefighters found traces of six previous fires that had been set around the Northridge atrium in addition to the fire they were called there for.
“Action must be taken promptly to end this dangerous situation before people are severely injured or killed at this vacant and neglected site,” Lipski said.
Milwaukee-based group Phoenix Investors LLC backed out of a deal to buy the embattled property from Black Spruce Enterprises over disputes with the City of Milwaukee and Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
At that time, Milwaukee Business Journal Editor-in-Chief Mark Kass told WTMJ’s Libby Collins that Milwaukee wasn’t happy with their plan to develop the property.
“The Mayor’s office and the City really want to raise the property. They’ve said they want some sort of industrial presence,” Kass said. “They wanted it more for warehousing and they wanted them to drop the fines — about $800,000 in fines and fees — and the city wanted more jobs there.”
Black Spruce, based out of China, has owned the mall property since 2008 but have done very little to redevelop or improve the site. The City of Milwaukee has been trying to force them to demolish the building since 2018.
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