MILWAUKEE— It’s been a menace and an eyesore for northwest Milwaukee residents for years, but after more than two decades of waiting, Northridge mall is finally being demolished.
Back in January, the city of Milwaukee took control of the 100-acre site and hired Balestrieri Environmental & Development and Veit & Company, Inc. as contractors to remove asbestos and tear down the derelict mall.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson says that with the destruction of the mall set for fall of 2025, opportunities now become available to redeveloping the site to best fit the community’s needs.
Speaking with city leaders during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Johnson gave his pitch for a brighter future.
“This presents an opportunity for so much to happen at this site,” said Johnson. “Whether that’s housing, whether that’s business, other jobs… this is a catalytic opportunity to do something big on the northwest side of the city and something that people on the northwest side deserve.”
Commissioner of city development, Lafayette Crump, says once the demolition is complete, a market analysis will be done on the site to look into what can be done to redevelop the property.
“So we’re planning for a request-for-proposal process,” said Crump. “It’s a big site. As the mayor mentioned, it’s the biggest continuous site available in the city right now and our approach for re-development here is going to be informed by that market analysis and planning that I mentioned. Typically the city does issue RFPs for sites like this and that’s certainly our anticipation for what will happen here. In fact, it’s a big enough site where we could see multiple RFPs and multiple responses.”
Of the people most encouraged by the demolition was Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski.
In the past, emergency services and fire departments from Milwaukee’s northwest side were sent to Northridge mall to distinguish fires left by intruders and trespassers.
In a tongue and cheek statement to city leaders, Lipski addressed city leaders.
“It’s an absolutely incredible feeling to be here today to know that the firefighters that would be best served serving the community around here are available for those purposes,” said Lipski. “They are no longer tied up here. The mayor’s chief of staff did a great job to really prioritize the city departments in solving this decades long problem. You’ll have my gratitude forever for this, and so I’ll end on a lighter note: Mr. mayor, tear down this mall!”
