Mall of America plans hotel/medical/retail addition

Posted: 4:17 pm Wed, May 16, 2012 By BurlGilyard Tags: Mall of America

The Mall of America is planning to build an addition on the north side of the complex in Bloomington, between the Sears and Nordstrom stores. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Owners of the Mall of America in Bloomington have been touting a Phase II expansion almost since the day the mall opened nearly 20 years ago. But now it appears that the plans will unfold piece by piece, rather than in a single large expansion of the mall.

Mall executives have plans for $200 million to $225 million addition on the malls north side, which will add another hotel, medical office space and more retail space.

This is part of the Phase II development Radisson Blu was part of Phase II, said Kurt Hagen, senior vice president of development with Triple Five Worldwide, the Edmonton, Alberta-based owner of the mall. The 500-room Radisson Blu hotel is under construction on the malls south side and slated to open in March 2013.

The latest expansion plans will combine retail, hotel and office space into a single building with two towers. The retail space will be on the lower three levels. Plans call for adding 135,000 square feet of retail space, about 140,000 square feet of medical office space and an as-yet-undetermined number of hotel rooms.

In 2009, the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic announced that it had signed a letter of intent for inclusion in the malls second phase. But no deal has been finalized. On Wednesday, a representative of the Mayo Clinic could not be reached for comment.

We are hopeful that Mayo would be the anchor of that [medical] office building, but we anticipate there will be other tenants in that office building, Hagen said. We think its a great fit.

Hagen said the retail mix for the space will emerge after the hotel and medical office plans take shape.

We think these would be higher-end retail tenants, Hagen said.

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Mall of America plans hotel/medical/retail addition