What happened to Northridge Mall? (Brookfield: crime, home, neighborhood)

[Red Flame]

The last I remmber of it was that it was open. Now I heasr it's closed. What's going on with it now?

[Nuclear_Art]

It closed about 4 years ago after all the anchors abandoned ship. the anchors were all that were keeping it afloat.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

Half the site is now home to a Menards and a Pick N Save. Most of the mall is still standing and vacant.

[Red Flame]

I kinda figured that cuz it looked like it was going down hill when I was there last.

[DaBears]

holy cow....i was there one time a loooooooooooong time ago (maybe late 80's-early 90's) & it seemed not so busy (of course everything was open so)

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

In its waning days, Northridge had some very well publicized incidents of crime, most notably a murder in the parking lot in 1991. A guy killed his wife in the parking lot and blamed it on a black kid. The media bought the story no-questions-asked (surprise, surprise..) but thanfully the police department got to the bottom of it and the guy ended up in prison. Little known fact is that when Jeffrey Dahmer was killed in prison in 1995, this guy was killed too, at the same time.

At any rate, most people take it at face value that the crime problems (or at least the perception of crime) is what brought down Northridge. I actually believe that without the crime issues Northridge would have faded away regardless, much like Southgate Mall did on the South Side. Northridge was in an awkward location, far from any major freeways, in a very low-density part of the metro area, hard to get to from anywhere except the city's northwest side and some northern suburbs.

During the late 1990s and into this decade, Mayfair Mall became the premier mall in the metropolitan area, and other malls took a hit and had to change in order to compete. Bayshore Mall reinvented itself, as is Brookfield Square. In the grand scheme of things, Northridge simply would not have been able to keep up with Mayfair, Bayshore or Brookfield Square due to its location off the beaten path. The perception of crime only hastened its inevitible demise.

[kbleeke]

very well said ronnie

[michelle29]

I think if the crime didn't get out of hand that Northridge would still be there. Well at least some of it.

I miss Northridge. It was so easy to get there. All you had to do was catch the Metrolink 1 bus and it went right there.

Now the mall and bus line is gone.

[kbleeke]

the neighborhood that northridge is in is not very bad, it was the people who came to the mall. It was in an isolated part of the city anyways

[lioninaconcretejungle]

Exactly what crime occured at Northridge on a regular basis?

I recall no such mayhem and destruction on my many visits to the mall.