The demolition of former Northridge Mall structure is completed at the mall near West Brown Deer Road and North 76th Street in Milwaukee.
* Milwaukee residents suggest a sports complex, housing, and a grocery store for the former Northridge Mall site.
* City officials are seeking a large anchor project to revitalize the area and spur further development.
* The city plans to issue a request for information from developers in early 2026.
* Milwaukee took control of the site in 2024 through property tax foreclosure after a long court battle.
Milwaukee’s former Northridge Mall site should be replaced by a sports complex, housing and other new uses, according to neighborhood residents.
Those comments came at an open house, led by Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s Department of City Development, seeking feedback to the department’s new report about the demolished mall site.
That report, released in December, suggests a catalytic project to help revive the 59-acre site. The possibilities include a health care complex, educational institute, advanced manufacturing/innovation campus, and a sports and recreation hub.
People attending the Jan. 21 open house support those ideas. They also had a few of their own, including a police station, senior housing and a grocery store.
Bilal Ahmad, a Bradley Estates neighborhood resident, likes the idea of a sports complex along with a medical facility.
In Chicago, an indoor track and field complex includes basketball and volleyball courts, a fitness center and a restaurant.
That facility, Ahmad said, attracts athletes from across the U.S. throughout the year. The center also is open to the public.
“I love something that is multiple use, not like a stadium that’s only used during the season and then it is just empty,” Ahmad said.
Neighborhood resident Yvette Alicea-Reed remembers shopping at Northridge. She said it was a shock to see the vacant space where the mall once stood.
“It looks dead,” Alicea-Reed said. “I would like to see it living again.”
Alicea-Reed wants to see new businesses, and a mix of affordable housing for working class people and those with higher incomes.
But the one thing the area doesn’t need is more industrial space, she said.
Alicea-Reed understands industrial development would bring jobs and tax revenue. But it could hamper other types of businesses from considering the area.
Northridge project would help Brown Deer Road
The city’s framework envisions a high-impact anchor project that not only transforms the largest development site in Milwaukee but also spurs revitalization along nearby West Brown Deer Road.
The road has several retail vacancies in the wake of Northridge’s 2003 closing.
“The scale of this site really allows us to think big,” said Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump. “We want to use this land in a unique way that isn’t possible in other parts of the city.”
“We are not going to be overly restrictive on what that will be,” said Mayor Johnson. “We are interested to see what the opportunities are out there that will make themselves available to us as we go through this process.”
The catalytic anchor should create significant private capital investment to “expand the city’s tax base and create family-supporting jobs,” Crump noted.
The city chose an anchor-focused approach based on residents’ “ambitious ideas” for the site as well as a market analysis, Crump said.
More than 600 people provided input either online or through public engagement sessions.
“Our focus is on identifying a use or a combination of uses that redefines the identity of the area, but does not rule anything out and leverages the site’s full potential,” Crump said.
The Department of City Development in early 2026 plans to issue a request for information from developers for the site.
Milwaukee officials have visited such local mixed-use developments as Glendale’s Bayshore and Oak Creek’s Drexel Town Square.
Once an anchor project has been identified and vetted, the city would sell the land to the developer.
That raises concerns among residents about past failed development projects. Some questioned why the city doesn’t retain ownership and lease it back.
Crump said the city is not in the landlord business. The city would benefit financially from the proceeds of the sale and from tax revenue generated by new development, he said.
“We are seeking private investments, but we – the mayor, the council – will make the determination as to whether or not we are going to approve a sale for a certain use,” Crump said.
Ald. Larresa Taylor likes what she heard from residents including creating a sense of place and community.
But she also wants the anchor project to be a big enough draw to encourage other development around it, create sustaining jobs, and attract people from other communities, such as Mequon and Grafton.
The city took control of the Northridge site in 2024 through property tax foreclosure after a five-year court battle. The former mall’s demolition was completed in September.
The city financed the mall’s demolition and cleanup with a $15 million federal grant, funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, and awarded by Gov. Tony Evers.
