A bird’s eye view of the Northridge Mall Site on Milwaukee’s far northwest side. Credit Hunter Turpin

Clean slate: Northridge Mall demolition provides chance to rejuvenate Milwaukee’s far northwest side

Nov 10, 2024 9:08 pm

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Larresa Taylor held her breath for years. The longtime resident of Milwaukee’s far northwest side and the city’s ninth district alderwoman has watched as Northridge Mall went from a shopping mecca of modern design and polished tile floors to an empty building with bullet holes in its skylights and profanity graffitied on nearly every surface. At 800,000 square feet, the derelict mall has been a blighting force on the broader Granville neighborhood since it closed in 2003. In January, the City of Milwaukee was awarded its long-sought ownership of the property from its previous phantom owner, Chinese investment group U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise, after a multi-year court battle. “After all these years, we can finally exhale,” Taylor said at the time. With the mall structure now coming down piece by piece, the city is expecting the 58-acre site at North 76th Street and West Brown Deer Road to be a clean slate by next fall. The site presents a significant redevelopment opportunity with potential to reactivate a corner of the city that has seen decades of economic decline, and a test of the city’s ability to pull off such a catalytic project on a site rife with development challenges. “We’ve known all along that until the Northridge situation was addressed, we were kind of stagnant up there,” said Mary Hoehne, executive director of the Granville Business Improvement District. “Finally, (the redevelopment opportunity) is here. What we do with it is critical. I feel that property is paramount to the further development and success of the northwest side and I’m going to go so far as to say it’s an integral part of Milwaukee.” [caption id="attachment_600274" align="alignleft" width="300"]

Alderwoman Larresa Taylor[/caption] Rippling challenges Granville, located on the far northwest side of Milwaukee, was annexed into the City of Milwaukee in 1962, making it the newest part of the city. At the time, Milwaukee was on an aggressive mission to expand its borders to make more room for modern industry and suburban housing, a recoil against the densely packed neighborhoods that filled the rest of the city. Once the area was fully developed, the result was a mix of uses that were sometimes incompatible with each other, such as industrial parks abutting gated condo and apartment communities and single-family homes fronting the former mall property. One Milwaukee developer called the area “eclectic.” Another called it “schizophrenic.” “More so than any other site I’ve ever looked at, personally, you drive past Northridge, and you just say to yourself, ‘How the hell did this ever happen in the first place?’” said Bob Monnat, senior partner at Milwaukee-based development firm Mandel Group. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="600272,600288"] Opened in 1972, the $50 million mall was built by the Kohl family, including Kohl’s Corp. founder Max Kohl and his son, Herb Kohl – who would later go on to purchase the Milwaukee Bucks and serve 24 years as a U.S. senator – along with national developer Taubman Co. It closed around 30 years later after a slow decline. Northridge’s closure spurred many years of depreciation in the surrounding area, primarily in its Brown Deer Road commercial corridor, which lost several notable retailers – like Walmart in 2012 and Target in 2016 – while its smaller shopping centers and office buildings emptied out and were replaced by lower-end tenants like laundromats and liquor stores. Some have not been refilled at all. To Northridge’s south, for instance, a 1975 office building was acquired by its lender in a deed in lieu of foreclosure earlier this year; the building is nearly 75% vacant and was acquired at less than 50% of its assessed value.

[caption id="attachment_600285" align="alignnone" width="300"] Bob Monnat[/caption]
"… you drive past Northridge, and you just say to yourself, ‘How the hell did this ever happen in the first place?’”

— Bob Monnat

“The challenge with Northridge is that you don’t look at it and say, ‘Ah, we know exactly what ought to go there,’” said Lafayette Crump, Milwaukee’s commissioner of city development. “And part of the reason for that is what it used to be is a thing that is not really getting built anymore.” Further, the area surrounding Northridge has more than its share of economic challenges: The poverty rate in the surrounding area is about 34%, compared to 24% citywide, according to census data. The median household income for the area is only about $34,000 per year, compared to about $50,000 per year for the entire city, 71% of people in the area are renters and 8% have a bachelor’s degree, all of which are things that need to be considered as redevelopment is planned, officials said. The City of Milwaukee has not yet chosen a preferred redevelopment route or created a master plan for the former Northridge site and has told residents and the business community to “think big” about what the area’s future could look like. There’s no shortage of ideas, including three presented by developers at the annual BizTimes Media Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference, held on Nov. 7. [caption id="attachment_600271" align="alignleft" width="300"]

Lafayette Crump[/caption] Jobs-based development Despite the plight of the Granville area’s real estate, a bright spot has been the area’s base of industrial buildings. Across Brown Deer Road from Northridge is the Bradley Woods Industrial Park, also known as the Milwaukee Land Bank, which has several hundred acres of industrial development already. One thought is to build on that base. “There are a lot of very good companies, very good employers in that area,” said Jim Barry III, president of Milwaukee-based commercial real estate firm The Barry Company. “But it’s pretty much built out. If you were to develop Northridge (as an industrial park), you could really create an expansion of Bradley Woods with modern facilities for expanding companies.” [caption id="attachment_600273" align="alignleft" width="300"]

Jim Barry III[/caption] Some companies looking for industrial space in the area have opted to convert retail properties along Brown Deer Road to meet their needs, like the abandoned Target that now houses Midwest Refrigerated Services. Industrial real estate brokers said that when space becomes available in the Bradley Woods Industrial Park, it often doesn’t stay on the market long, indicating demand for new space in that area. Brokers said they aren’t referring to the 500,000-plus-square-foot distribution centers that are popping up in Kenosha and elsewhere. Rather, industrial development at the Northridge Mall site could attract smaller facilities suitable for local and regional manufacturers. With southeast Wisconsin’s industrial space vacancy rate at 5.5%, according to the most recent report from the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin, adding more industrial supply is welcome, according to Barry. Further, as already-developed land, the Northridge property has an existing road system as well as sewer and water lines that would only need to be modernized to support new development. “To me, that’s not only the highest and best use, but the most obvious use,” Barry said. Industrial development would create jobs, which some officials and nearby residents said are needed in the Granville area to help address socioeconomic challenges, according to comments made at a town hall meeting in August. However, while many developers and local officials agree that building the area out with industrial buildings is one of the more viable – if not most viable – ways to redevelop the former Northridge site, some say that type of redevelopment alone would not create the impact they are hoping for, and the job density would be too low to justify it. “My real belief is if we put five manufacturers up there, and they all employ 100 people, that’s 500 jobs,” Hoehne said. “I’m not 100% convinced that those folks are going to live in Milwaukee. I’m not at all convinced they’re going to spend their money in Milwaukee. I think they’re going to come to work in Milwaukee. What have we gained? We’ve only built a daytime population that doesn’t live in the area.” [gallery columns="1" size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="600278,600275,600276,600277"] Diverse housing needs The Granville area also has a significant base of housing, which could make it prime for more. Already, two separate developments just southeast of Northridge could bring 298 market-rate apartment units to the area and, just west of Northridge, Milwaukee-based Royal Capital has proposed more than 1,100 affordable housing units at a “healthy living campus,” though none of those projects have advanced yet. There are other sites on the northwest side that have better access to freeways, such as available sites closer to I-41, that make them more attractive for industrial development, some industrial real estate brokers said. Thus, most developers and brokers interviewed by BizTimes said they thought the former Northridge site lent itself to a housing-based development coupled with other thoughtful elements. To make a project financially viable, several developers envision an element of dense housing, possibly as a “town center” development with lower-density housing surrounding it. “Whatever you do there, it has to cover multiple economic classes to make it really sustainable,” said Scott Lurie, founder of Milwaukee-based F Street Group. “If you take the site and you travel two miles to the east, you’re in River Hills, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the region. If you travel to the west a half mile, there are some very depressed apartment and condominium complexes. And go two miles west of that and you’re in Menomonee Falls, where there’s lots of economic growth.” Hoehne emphasized the area’s racial diversity, which is uncommon in much of Milwaukee given the level of segregation in the city and metro area, as another reason to consider a housing-based redevelopment. “We should honor that, grow that, and really look at this as an opportunity to change the whole mantra of segregation in Milwaukee,” she said.

[caption id="attachment_600286" align="alignnone" width="300"] Scott Lurie[/caption] "Whatever you do there, it has to cover multiple economic classes to make it really sustainable.” — Scott Lurie

Opportunity for community In order to make the former Northridge site’s next life as impactful as possible, without compromising feasibility, many developers suggested a redevelopment centered around some sort of theme or component that could create a destination and build community. “Northridge needs to become known as a flex space community for people that are trying to build their business, an entrepreneurial hub, a pickleball mecca for the Midwest, a tee-ball center for little kids …,” Lurie said. Monnat, for instance, suggests something called an “agri-hood,” which combines elements of agriculture and a neighborhood. It’s not a massive farm, he said, but incorporates indoor and outdoor food production as well as adjacent industries and housing centered around health-conscious living. “The idea is how can we take space, and instead of just making it park space, how can we actually create employment opportunities with it? How can we create healthy lifestyle opportunities with it?” Monnat said. Similarly, Scott Yauck, president and CEO of Milwaukee-based Cobalt Partners, suggests a housing-based development with community-supporting amenities like health care and social spaces. “There’s lots of ways you could program it, but one thought is that (residents) almost have to agree to move into it,” Yauck said. “The community could perpetuate itself by building some of its own homes in the future that maybe can be rented to own.” The former mall site sits near the intersection of West Brown Deer Road and North 76th Street, which is more than 4 miles from both I-41 and I-43. While both of those roads have the capacity to carry large volumes of traffic, they only carry a fraction of the traffic those interstates do. Further, the available Northridge site does not directly abut either of those roads, which therefore limits the site’s ability to be redeveloped with many users that require high amounts of visibility. [gallery columns="1" size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="600282,600281,600280,600279"] “If you’re from out of town and you drove down Brown Deer Road or 76th Street, you would not know Northridge is there; if you were born after 2000 and you drove down Brown Deer Road or 76th Street, you would not know Northridge is there,” Lurie said. Most developers agreed that whatever “destination” is created at the Northridge site, it should be at a smaller scale and more community oriented than visitor oriented. An idea shared among several stakeholders, including residents at the August town hall, was some sort of education component, such as an extension of Milwaukee Area Technical College, or an industry-specific facility for health care, the construction trades, or other manufacturing skills, potentially sponsored by unions or a partnership between the area’s major employers. “The top concern we hear from our manufacturers in Granville is access to labor,” Hoehne said. “Housing and education are two ways to support that.”

[caption id="attachment_600287" align="alignnone" width="300"] Scott Yauck[/caption] "There’s lots of ways you could program it, but one thought is that (residents) almost have to agree to move into it.” — Scott Yauck

City’s redevelopment process Due to the amount of interest in the property, the Department of City Development is planning to release at least one or multiple requests for proposals with general guardrails about what the city would like to see in a development at the Northridge site, and what it wouldn’t like to see, according to Benji Timm, project manager for the city’s Redevelopment Authority. It’s estimated that RFPs will be formulated throughout 2025, but DCD has not determined if they will be ready or made public before demolition is completed. In the meantime, DCD has engaged Milwaukee-based engineering, planning and design firm GRAEF, which will support the city’s planning efforts by illustrating various alternatives for the future redevelopment of the site. The city has also tapped London-based Baker Tilly as a sub-consultant to GRAEF to complete a market analysis. GRAEF’s conceptual illustrations are expected to be unveiled in early 2025. Timm said DCD has also been hearing from developers and brokers, primarily industrial real estate brokers, that are interested in the property. Area developers are split on how they’d advise the city to handle the RFP process. Lurie, for instance, said the city should create a vision for the Northridge site redevelopment and seek proposals within that framework. Yauck, however, suggested the city only put up general guardrails and let the development community submit their ideas, which could help proposals stay “grounded in reality,” he said. Monnat argues for a two-step process, in which the city begins with something like a submittal of ideas to gauge possibilities before issuing an RFP. “I think it’d be a huge mistake to try to write an RFP in which you need to be able to signal how you’re going to make a selection,” Monnat said. “You can try to make that call, but I think this site needs a longer process to reach a conclusion as to what would actually be best there. We’re miles away from an RFP.” Hoehne and Taylor both urged DCD to take their time with the redevelopment process, saying the biggest mistake in their view would be a “kneejerk decision,” Taylor said. “If you spent 20 years looking at something that is falling down, that is really being a detriment to the community you want, I think it’s important to see it become a clean slate, and then begin to use your imagination on what’s next,” Taylor said, adding that she hopes RFPs will not be issued until after demolition is complete. [caption id="attachment_600284" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

February 2024: Aerial shot of the Northridge Mall site, looking southeast. Credit: Jon Elliott/MKE drones[/caption] Feasibility and financing Regardless of how Northridge is redeveloped, the area will likely need infrastructure improvements, and a housing-based development would likely need to keep affordability front of mind, developers said, making the financing of any project tricky. A significant public subsidy will likely be necessary to redevelop the site, they said. “Without municipal, state, (and) some sort of development support, this deal doesn’t make any sense to anybody,” Lurie said. The City of Milwaukee has been criticized by some for its tax incremental financing policy, which currently only provides TIF generally for projects that include job-creation or affordable housing. Many developers have said that policy is too narrow and prevents more development from occurring within the city limits. In response, Crump has said the city is working with stakeholders to develop a TIF policy for workforce housing. The State of Wisconsin provided the city with a $15 million grant last year to support the former Northridge site demolition and redevelopment efforts, which are currently focused on asbestos abatement and community engagement. “I know we’ve got a black eye, and people talk about why this or that development won’t work,” Hoehne said. “We have one opportunity to help this deserving, diverse area thrive, but we gotta want it.” n