Study recommends redevelopment options for Milwaukee's former Northridge Mall area

The area around Milwaukee's former Northridge Mall could be redeveloped with new light industrial, retail and other new uses under a plan undergoing Common Council review.

The Granville Strategic Action Plan and Land Use Study has several goals for the area, which was part of the Town of Granville before being annexed by the city in 1962.

The plan, presented by the Department of City Development, focuses on the area centered at the former mall, west of N. 76th St. and north of W. Brown Deer Road. It includes other areas near Northridge, where the last store closed in 2003.

The plan's goals include reinventing commercial corridors, such as W. Brown Deer Road, with zoning changes to support retail at key sites — while allowing the conversion of obsolete retail buildings to light industrial and other new uses.

Additional goals call for continued investments in roads and other public improvements to strengthen the Granville area's industrial parks; improving workforce training for neighborhood residents; preventing crime; using urban design guidelines for new buildings; adding bike paths to connect parks; increasing home ownership; and marketing both the area's retailers and its housing options.

The former mall itself could be converted to light industrial space. 

Most of the former mall  is owned by U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group Inc., a Chinese investors group.

City officials say there has been little movement on Black Spruce's proposal to convert the property, with nearly 900,000 square feet, into a trade mart for Asian businesses to sell furniture, toys and other items to North American companies.

Penzeys Spices owner William Penzey, who owns the mall's former Boston Store building and that building's parking lot, wants to buy the rest of the former Northridge and convert it into his growing company's headquarters. But Black Spruce hasn't yet shown any willingness to sell.

However, that could change as more commercial projects occur near the mall, said Ald. Chantia Lewis, whose district includes the site.

"Once they see development happening around them, they'll either join in, or sell," Lewis said.

She spoke at a recent meeting of the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee, which unanimously recommended the plan's approval. It will be reviewed, and likely approved, by the full council on Tuesday.

Former large big box stores near Northridge have been converted in recent years to light industrial use.

The latest project is automotive transmission builder ETE Reman Inc.'s conversion of the former Toys R Us, 8825 N. 76th St., into a new manufacturing facility.

The plan, drafted in part by consulting firm Graef, says the recommended changes have the potential to bring more than 1,500 new jobs to the W. Brown Deer Road corridor, redevelop more than 100 acres of underused land and add more than $20 million to Milwaukee's property tax base.

Tom Daykin can be reached at  tdaykin@jrn.com.