As legal battles over the former
Northridge Mall's future drag on, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge William Sosnay reprimanded the mall's owners in a Friday hearing for failing to provide security at the abandoned property.
“The court continues to find that is contemptuous conduct and there is no excuse,” Sonsay said.
This comes after a prospective buyer for the former mall, Milwaukee-based Phoenix Investors, terminated its purchase agreement in July. The company pulled out of the deal after city officials said they wouldn't support its plans to convert the building into a storage facility. City officials want a use for the property with more jobs.
The City of Milwaukee wants to have the building torn down to redevelop the site and has a pending request before Sonsay to take control of the property from China-based Black Spruce, which has owned it since 2008, but Black Spruce is challenging the city’s raze order and Sosnay’s affirmation of that order in state appeals court.
Phoenix emerged as a possible buyer of the property in March. It had been paying for security at the mall, ending a string of fires and regular trespassing at the site, but stopped the security services a week after terminating its purchase agreement for the property, court documents say.
Since then, daily inspections filed with the court say that there has not been any security at the former Northridge Mall property, despite the court's previous orders for Black Spruce to secure the property.
“I am firmly directing you to do something because your silence is speaking volumes,” Sonsay said on Friday.
Before withdrawing from the deal, Phoenix had conceptual plans to turn the mall into an industrial storage and warehousing facility. The city opposed those plans, however, and wants to see the site redeveloped in a way that would better serve the surrounding community by creating more jobs, city officials said in a June 20 court hearing.
Judge denies protective order
In the hearing Friday, Sonsay denied the city's request for a protective order to prevent Black Spruce from filing future open records requests.
This came after Black Spruce filed several records requests in April and June, which the city's attorney's said were burdensome.
Despite ruling against the city on the matter, Sonsay expressed some sympathy to the city's argument.
“I would caution Black Spruce, in the future, to tread lightly,” he said.
The parties are set to gather in court again on Sept. 29.
