MILWAUKEE — It has been 21 years since the last stores closed their doors for business at Northridge Mall on Milwaukee’s far northwest side.

Since 2003, mother nature and vandals have both left their mark on the sprawling property. Today, graffiti covers nearly every accessible inch of the mall and broken glass and debris sit where shoppers used to pass by.

Soon the mall itself will be gone. The Milwaukee Department of City Development expects demolition work on the property to begin as soon as later this summer. The City of Milwaukee took ownership of the mall in January following years of stalled redevelopment plans and legal battles with the property’s former owners.

Benji Timm is with the city’s Department of City Development. He said the city has secured a contractor to begin the demolition work on the main structure. The former Boston Store location at the mall, which the city has owned since 2017, has already been torn down.

Timm said mold, water damage, and the resulting ceiling damage have created an environment of major deterioration. In addition, Timm said vandalism on the property has accelerated in the past few years.

“Probably the past five years it (the vandalism) has really accelerated and gotten to the point you see here, one of the reasons the city implemented 24-7 security around the site to keep people out of it,” said Timm.

A series of fires at the mall in recent years have also created challenges for Milwaukee firefighters, who have had to navigate the property at night in order to put the fires out.

Demolition crews will face several challenges that come with older buildings. Asbestos is present in the mall, which first opened in 1972.

“Asbestos abatement is going to be a long phase,” said Timm. “Essentially, they have to remove all the components inside the building to get at it. Most of the asbestos is in the walls and inside the columns. They have to clear everything out to get at the asbestos.”

Timm predicts the demolition process at the mall will take about a year.