Part of the former Northridge Mall parking lot is being sold to Menard Inc. to improve access to its nearby store

Part of the former Northridge Mall parking lot is being sold to Menard Inc. to enhance access for its neighboring home improvement store.

The City of Milwaukee would sell the 25,000-square-foot lot, at 8919 N. Granville Station Road, for $80,000, under a new proposal that needs Common Council approval.

The Menard store is at 8110 W. Brown Deer Road.

The parcel being sold is a small part of the parking lot for the mall's former Boston Store.

Penzeys Spices owner William Penzey gave the former Boston Store property to the city in December 2017 after his efforts to buy the rest of the former mall failed. Penzey had planned to move his company's operations to Northridge.

The city Redevelopment Authority in March 2019 disclosed plans to seek a grant to help pay for demolishing the former store. That would make the site available for light industrial development or other new uses.

Also, the city Department of Neighborhood Services in April 2019 issued a demolition order for the remaining mall, saying the dilapidated building was a danger to public safety and health.

A maintenance worker hired by mall owner U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Inc. died after being electrocuted at the property in July 2019.

Black Spruce in June appealed a Milwaukee County Circuit Court ruling that upheld the city's raze order, which could create around 100 acres north of West Brown Deer Road and west of North 76th Street for new development.

Black Spruce says it plans to redevelop the mall as a trade mart for Chinese companies to sell their goods to U.S. firms. The company also said the city has overestimated the costs of repairing the mall.

The Menard store has been a success story despite the long-closed mall's depressing effect on other nearby stores. 

The store opened in 2005 after the former Northridge Sears store was demolished.

Menard in 2017 bought a nearby former Pick ’n Save supermarket and converted the building into storage space.

In a separate Common Council resolution, the city would write off outstanding property taxes, totaling $31,297, tied to the former Boston Store building and its parking lot.

The city previously agreed to forgive those taxes owed by Penzey's investment group, PNR 2 LLC, in return for him granting the site to the city.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.