Judge Displeased By City’s Northridge Curveball

Northridge Mall in August 2022. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Judge William Sosnay isn’t happy he’s learning about the city’s attempt to demolish the long-vacant Northridge Mall outside the walls of his court room.

The judge, who presides over the high-profile case, found out through the media that the city is pursuing a separate tax foreclosure case for more than $1 million in unpaid taxes. City officials publicly discussed the case last week before a Common Council committee.

“I don’t like reading in the paper events that are occurring in a case that is before my court when I haven’t been advised of it,” said Sosnay during a hearing Wednesday.

It left him quoting the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, he said (while dropping the word “hell”), asking “What the heck is going on out there?”

But he is pleased things are moving forward, and pushed the city to make them move even faster.

“You’re not on the same schedule I am,” said Sosnay in recapping the city’s anticipated two-year demolition timeline. “This has gone on, as I have said on many occasions, for too long.”

Citing the foreclosure suit and the city landing a $15 million American Rescue Plan Act grant from the state, Sosnay said he had suggested both ideas in earlier hearings. “I told you so,” he said, summarizing his past remarks.

A pivotal hearing on the foreclosure case is scheduled for Jan. 25, but city officials previously said the mall’s owners already missed a key redemption date. Officials said they would secure the property, long an issue, once the city took ownership.

Sosnay said that any comments suggesting things aren’t moving quickly are false.

“This court’s involvement has been on a speed track compared to what has happened in the past. I wasn’t the one that caused this matter to reverse, both in how it was presented and how it was decided. And I wasn’t the one that waited 15 years to do something about it,” he said.

The judge said his hands are still tied by an appeal from China-based property owner U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group that is pending before the Court of Appeals. In October 2022, Sosnay ruled that the city’s raze order was proper. He made the ruling after a prior judge had a ruling remanded by the appeals court.

Attorney Christopher M. Kloth offered no defense for his client’s actions, and noted that he doesn’t represent the entity in the property tax foreclosure matter, nor the appeal. He said he dutifully relays the court’s instructions after each hearing. “I have very little control over a client that is in China,” said the attorney.

“You have a difficult situation. You have handled it well,” said Sosnay, while still ordering the three Black Spruce principals to appear in court when a ruling is made. He said he knew he had limited power to make two individuals based in China appear, but said he expected Canada-based Li Yang to appear as she did before.

The city’s representative, assistant city attorney Michael Radavich, apologized for not keeping the court updated. “We hear your message loud and clear,” said the attorney.

The mall, located near N. 76th Street and W. Brown Deer Road, closed in 2003 after 31 years of operation. A predecessor of Black Spruce acquired the property for $6 million in 2008. It proposed creating an Asian marketplace, but those plans have never advanced.

More than a half million dollars in unpaid contempt fines have been levied against Black Spruce for its failure to comply with a 2019 agreement to secure the property. At least four fires took place at the mall in 2022 and it has been a target for trespassing. Another fire took place in November.

The city intends to begin demolition in the next two months on the one portion of the mall structure it owns, the former Boston Store. Demolition of the remainder of the mall structure would begin in the summer. A 58-acre site would then be available for redevelopment.

August 2022 Photos

April 2019 Photos

Property Map

Map of ownership of area around Northridge Mall. Image prepared by Department of City Development.