Mall of America - Bloomington

[Lancestar2]

Looks like MOA will no longer be the largest mall in the US! The same owners are building a larger one in Miami. Does this mean phase 1C is the final phase? Or will the complete phase 2 still happen?

http://bringmethenews.com/2015/03/06/sk ... gest-mall/

I doubt the MOA owners are just going to stop their plans. These have been in the works for over 10 years.

As far as the new mall - I'll believe it when I see it. Recall that the MOA was originally planned to be MUCH larger than the present structure. Various hurdles stopped that from happening, and I think some of those articles about the new Miami American Dream Mall are completely conceptual "arm-chair imagineering" at this point -- essentially what they would build if they didn't have any constraints.

Just to make it clear the MOA and the ADM malls are owned by the same company so the fact that this project is happening should not affect the timeline of the MOA expansion specifically. I would even go so far as predicting that once the MOA connects to Ikea and ADM is opening we will see the MOA rebranded

American Dream Miami
American Dream New Jersey
American Dream Minnesota

Considering the MOA only draws mostly regional traffic a rebranding shouldn't affect to much, yet it should allow for a streamline resort mall brand to become easily identifiable. I wonder if we might even see a few more American Dream malls pop up provided AD Miami is successful. Pretty exciting if you ask me.

[MN Fats]

Interesting thought. I'll always call it Mall of America regardless, because I'm stubborn. How about those new rides at Camp Snoopy?

[MNdible]

The American Dream, brought to you by a family of Iranian-Canadians.

[TroyGBiv]

MOA is hugely profitable - they will continue to build as long as they profit from each phase. They are building for revenue not exclusively for world record titles. With downtown Bloomington/Central finally moving forward and moving physically toward the MOA, The Phase 3 will eventually happen...

[nfschauer]

Just checked the webcam http://oxblue.com/open/mortenson/moa1c and noticed that they're having a steel topping off event. There's a piece sitting on the ground with a tree on it and everyone is standing around it.

[nfschauer]

It's at 11:26AM if you want to look back in case they all leave by time anyone takes a look.

[HiawathaGuy]

Update on the MOA expansion project.

Megamall: Four projects in one expansion
http://finance-commerce.com/2015/04/meg ... expansion/

[Wedgeguy]

My last trip last week thru the MOA gave me a few detours on the north side of the mall where they were tearing up old flooring and reorganizing where escalators and elevators will be once that section of the mall is redone. I'm assuming that we will be seeing white tiled floors in this section of the mall also. I look forward to the updates to finishes, and the new square footage that is added to the retail on that wing of the mall. With the exception of the 4th floor, this will conclude the remaking of the MOA with started with the East wing 1st and then the south wing. Last year was the west wing and now finally the north wing. Should be set for another 15 to 20 years.

[mnmike]

Just a bit of gossip...the Ghermezian brothers are entertaining reps from Hermes today at MOA...presumably to try and lure that upscale boutique into the new expansion, or another of their developments.

[HiawathaGuy]

Just a bit of gossip...the Ghermezian brothers are entertaining reps from Hermes today at MOA...presumably to try and lure that upscale boutique into the new expansion, or another of their developments.

It seems odd there isn't one here already... given how many other US locations they have. Nothing between Chicago & Denver though - so seems plausible. Even Cleveland has a boutique...

[grant1simons2]

006 by grant.simons, on Flickr

007 by grant.simons, on Flickr

008 by grant.simons, on Flickr

009 by grant.simons, on Flickr

[HiawathaGuy]

Crayola announces huge, colorful attraction at Mall of America
http://www.startribune.com/crayola-plan ... 315834571/

Crayola Experience at the Bloomington megamall will measure 60,000 square feet and be located in the Southeast Court on Level 3.


A concept drawing shows the exterior of the Mall of America with a Crayola theme to promote Crayola Experience.

[Wedgeguy]

Glad that the old Bloomingdales space is finally going to get filled up, or at least close to it. Seems now close to half empty. But I've not been out there since March before they started to work on moving the Rain Forest to the 4th floor in part of the Bloomingdale space next to the event space. the 3rd level had nothing happening so this is a good thing.

[min-chi-cbus]

I love it -- it'll be great for the kids......but hard on the wallet. $75 for our family of four, including a 5 and a 2 year old. That'll hurt.

[kiliff75]

I'm excited for this because I know my daughter will really love it, but it sucks to have to pay to go somewhere basically just to supervise her...

[kiliff75]

...to clarify I meant for my admission not hers.

[twincitizen]

I look at those giant Crayola signs covering entire walls and wonder, "How?"

Mall of America must be completely exempt from the City of Bloomington's sign ordinance.

#zoningadministratorlife

[sdho]

I look at those giant Crayola signs covering entire walls and wonder, "How?"

Mall of America must be completely exempt from the City of Bloomington's sign ordinance.

#zoningadministratorlife

Perhaps Bloomington's ordinance accounts for the size of the building? There's a new Wendy's sign in Richfield that seems vastly more out of scale with the building -- but, I was surprised to learn, it was totally compliant with Richfield's code (which does not account for scale of the building for a freestanding sign).

Or can PUD get away with extra huge signs just because?

[Wedgeguy]

Took the LRT out to MOA today for shits and giggles. I was expecting to see some work going on with the remodel of the transit hub. Is that postponed? IS there a start date when this will be started?

The new Mall extension on the north side looks very nice and classy. Not sure how others feel about it, but I've been very impressed by the new white décor of the remodels sections of the mall. They have transformed the dark Victorian train shed look into one bright and classy place. North side still has a lot of work and demolition yet to get done. Would hope that it is finished before the Christmas selling season. But that might be asking a lot. But it looks like it will follow the décor of the other sections and be lots of white stone and tiles. The new extension will be a great addition.

[sdho]

The new Mall extension on the north side looks very nice and classy. Not sure how others feel about it, but I've been very impressed by the new white décor of the remodels sections of the mall. They have transformed the dark Victorian train shed look into one bright and classy place. North side still has a lot of work and demolition yet to get done. Would hope that it is finished before the Christmas selling season. But that might be asking a lot. But it looks like it will follow the décor of the other sections and be lots of white stone and tiles. The new extension will be a great addition.

Really? Completely disagree about the internal remodeling. Sure, the old stuff was 20 years old and perhaps needed some spiffying up, but I thought it was really helpful for wayfinding and just to provide a distinct sense of place in each part of the mall. I believe the "addresses" actually make reference to the former styles -- like American Apparel is 186 N Garden, Bloomington. It was a lot easier to tell what was the North Garden when it looked like a garden.

The new decor, while a nice finish quality, seems like a knockoff of the already-uninspired Southdale Center remodel. I think it'll look dated in 5-10 years, when of course, many tons of perfectly good tile can again go to some construction landfill to be replaced by something slightly different.

As for wayfinding, I wish they'd at least kept different color schemes, or some way to differentiate. I think there may be some differences with the light fixture/crystal things, but I haven't noticed a pattern.