Work to pull down what remains of the old Northridge Mall on Brown Deer Road is continuing apace with the recent razing of the old Younkers store on the east end of the mall.
Veit & Company, which was awarded the demo contract last year, has now moved on to tearing down the former JCPenney store this week.
Environmental work inside what's left of the mall, which began last summer, is ongoing.
The Department of City Development says, "the City expects all mall buildings to be demolished by mid-summer. The project remains on schedule and on budget."
The roughly 58-acre former mall site north of Brown Deer Road and west of 76th Street should be ready for redevelopment by late 2025, at which point it will be the largest piece of available land in the city.
Northridge was developed and built – like its predecessor, Southridge, which opened in 1970 – by Michigan-based mall developer Taubman Centers, Inc. and local partner the Kohl family.
The mall closed in 2003.
You can comment on the future of the site at a City of Milwaukee website.
SEE RECENT PHOTOS INSIDE THE MALL & READ ABOUT ITS HISTORY IN THIS URBAN SPELUNKING STORY.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
