Northridge Mall demolition plan orders ignored, judge says

MILWAUKEE - The owners of the shuttered and decaying Northridge Mall had until Friday, Nov. 18 to file a demolition plan with the courts. That hasn't happened.

A week earlier, the court record indicates Milwaukee County Judge William Sosnay ordered the owners, U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group, to file a raze plan with the court.

Black Spruce is appealing the judge's decision to enforce the city's raze order, and asked that it be paused. Sosnay said he would not, ordering the plan to be put forward while also ordering Black Spruce to pay $187,000 in fines for not securing the property.

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Photos from the most recent city inspection report, filed on Nov. 7, show graffiti, broken boarded-up doors, broken windows and brush. Black Spruce is also being fined $2,000 per day for not securing the property. 

"These laws are not meant to be ignored or disregarded, and this is exactly what the plaintiff has done throughout these proceedings," said Sosnay.

Black Spruce has outstanding tax bills for the properties that date back to 2018 and total hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Attorneys that first represented the company in the original appeal case from 2019 are suing for nonpayment, claiming they are owed more than $150,000. A hearing on that case is set for next week.

FOX6 News' messages to the Black Spruce attorneys in that case, as well as in the current raze order case, went unreturned.