Northridge Mall demo crews found hives with thousands of bees. Here's how they will be relocated.

This is an unusually sweet story from Milwaukee's former Northridge Mall.

Two bee hives discovered before beginning the decrepit mall's demolition are being relocated to a southeastern Wisconsin farm — where they can continue producing honey.

The hives are being moved by employees of Balestrieri Environmental & Development Inc., a New Berlin firm hired to do asbestos removal and other prep work for Northridge's demolition.

Among the first steps is removing wildlife and pests, said Benji Timm, a city Redevelopment Authority project manager. The city took control of Northridge in January through property tax foreclosure after a five-year court battle.

Sometimes that means dealing with wasp nests, said Timm, who's worked at the authority since 2001.

"But this happened to be honey bees," he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The hives were found in the mall's former Younkers and J.C. Penney department stores, he said. The bees may have swarmed there from someone's backyard before the authority secured Northridge this winter by boarding up former entrances, Timm said.

The two hives together probably hold around 20,000 to 30,000 bees, said Timm — himself a former backyard beekeeper.

"I'm a big fan of bees," said Timm.

Also fans: Ken and Cindy Balestrieri, president and vice president of Balestrieri Environmental & Development. They will add the Northridge bee colonies to their Walworth County farm near Elkhorn — which already has 14 hives.

"It's a very sweet deal," Cindy Balestrieri said.

Herding a hive is done by finding the queen bee and moving her to what beekeepers call a "super" — a box placed on a hive where bees store honey.

The rest of the bees will follow the queen to the super, Timm said.

That's being done by Nazim Agushi, a Balestrieri Environmental field supervisor.

Agushi as a young adult helped his beekeeper father in Kosovo before moving to the United States. He's been overseeing the bees becoming acclimated to their temporary new homes at Northridge — a process that takes a couple of days.

"I don't want to leave any bees behind," Agushi said. The plan is to relocate them to Walworth County within the next week.

Meanwhile, Balestrieri Environmental continues to prep Northridge for demolition. The work of knocking down the buildings is to begin this winter.

Rogers, Minnesota-based Veit & Co. is the main demolition contractor under a $10.7 million bid submitted in June.

Northridge site to be cleared by fall 2025

The 58-acre site at West Brown Deer Road and North 76th Street will be cleared by fall 2025.

Department of City Development officials have long seen it as a site for new uses, including light industrial buildings.

Other possibilities include centers for job training, education and youth recreation; housing, office space, and retail space such as shops and restaurants.

Northridge closed in 2003.

A China-based company, U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group Inc., bought it for $6 million in 2008. A plan to create a trade mart for Asian firms selling wholesale goods to North American vendors didn't materialize and the mall fell into disrepair.

The demolition and environmental cleanup work is being financed with a $15 million federal grant provided through the American Rescue Plan Act awarded to the city by Gov. Tony Evers.

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

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Northridge Mall demo crews relocate hives with thousands of bees