urbanMSP

I agree. That location is 2nd to none, including downtown: retail amenities galore, minutes to the airport -- even if you walked, 10-15 minutes to downtown, multiple transit options available, amazing freeway accessibility, Bloomington schools (for office workers looking to live in the area)........there's a reason this land is amongst the most precious in the entire Midwest! Finally, the best reason: there really isn't any comparable Class A space in the sub-market micro area of Bloomington East.

"Ground Broken":
http://www.startribune.com/business/250815941.html

City Pages with an "exclusive rendering."

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2014 ... ansion.php

Two thoughts:
1) The hotel and office tower look tiny.
2) Lookit all the pretty, tastefully-lit cars!

So. Much. Parking.

One thing I noticed is the parking will be completely surrounded by nice big trees. Why does every plan show something like that, yet they never plant them. Or they just plant trees that dont get taller than 15 feet. To have nice big trees surrounding that parking like it shows would make a world of difference.

WCCO has some more renderings.
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/photo-gal ... enderings/
(click the arrows to see them all... or click view thumbnails)

I was having a hard time understanding the scope of this project until I saw these latest pictures. It didn't help that I haven't been following this project closely... and I've heard newscasts, in the past few days, referring to this as phase II. I get it now. phase II, yet to come, will be connected by phase 1c, currently being built.

So when is phase II?

I've had questions about Phase II myself and am very confused about what it means and what the scope is. Is it just this expansion that will be completed in 2015? Does it also include the supposed MEGA-expansion across Lindau Ln.....the supposed additional 4M SF -- essentially doubling the size of the MOA? I'm also very confused!

I've had questions about Phase II myself and am very confused about what it means and what the scope is. Is it just this expansion that will be completed in 2015? Does it also include the supposed MEGA-expansion across Lindau Ln.....the supposed additional 4M SF -- essentially doubling the size of the MOA? I'm also very confused!

my understanding:

This was the original idea for phase 2:
.

The financing for something like this is incredible... especially coming out of the recession. So they broke it down into parts.

This is what they are currently talking about finishing by 2015 (phase 1c):

In scale, much less. However, it's still a huge project... and phase II supposedly, like winter, is coming.

From these pictures, we can see that while the hotel and office tower will remain on the MOA side of lindau, part of the expansion will jut out over part of Lindau):

I thought it was supposed to double in size? The second picture looks like they literally add nothing.

phase 2 will double the size of the mall. This will be phase 1c... not phase 2. It looks small in comparison... but that's just because the mall is so huge. This is a big project.

As long as it means I can finally get from the light rail to Ikea without crossing eight lanes of semi-freeway traffic, any expansion is a huge improvement in my book.

As long as it means I can finally get from the light rail to Ikea without crossing eight lanes of semi-freeway traffic, any expansion is a huge improvement in my book.

No, this addition only builds out to the newly lowered Lindau Lane, much like the Radison Blu on the south side of the mall. Phase 2 will cross Lindau and presumably connect to IKEA. The bridge over Lindau will help with the walking connection to the parking lot and IKEA - so at least there's that.

Thank you!

I have no idea when that 2nd phase will start or if they've finalized what it's going to look like. I can't imagine what they could possibly put into Phase II (or 2a, or whatever) that isn't already in the existing mall, WITHOUT adding completely unnecessary stores or ventures (e.g. a driving range). I really don't see how nearly doubling the size and number of square footage won't completely dissolve the revenues of all of the existing stores that pay a big premium to be located in the Mall of America. One thing that keeps me hopeful however is that Minnesota and the Twin Cities are not a speculative market for developers, and anything that's built here generally has a strong demand and often anchors first before development commences. I just hope they do this thing right, and do it in a way that doesn't negatively impact the existing space, and hopefully even positively impacts it!

I have no idea when that 2nd phase will start or if they've finalized what it's going to look like. I can't imagine what they could possibly put into Phase II (or 2a, or whatever) that isn't already in the existing mall, WITHOUT adding completely unnecessary stores or ventures (e.g. a driving range). I really don't see how nearly doubling the size and number of square footage won't completely dissolve the revenues of all of the existing stores that pay a big premium to be located in the Mall of America. One thing that keeps me hopeful however is that Minnesota and the Twin Cities are not a speculative market for developers, and anything that's built here generally has a strong demand and often anchors first before development commences. I just hope they do this thing right, and do it in a way that doesn't negatively impact the existing space, and hopefully even positively impacts it!

Phase 2 has signed agreements for a Bass Pro Shop (which I think would be a HUGE success), another hotel with a large indoor waterpark, an indoor skating rink, I believe they plan to have a new movie theater complex, a 1,000 person dinner theater, as well as more retail, restaurants and office space.


I think all of those things would really, really make MOA they best mall in America (even topping the other 555 mall in Edmonton).

Best of all, that's space for, like, five more Starbucks and Victoria's Secrets!

And more stores to sell yoga leggings?

Did you know that the property value of the Mall of America (a single parcel) is roughly equivalent to the total property value of the entire city of Corcoran?

So we see what Phase II was "supposed" to look like - do we not know what it "will" look like?

So we see what Phase II was "supposed" to look like - do we not know what it "will" look like?

http://www.businessinsider.com/mall-of- ... ion-2013-7

I believe this is the 'closest' rendering to what it'll look like with Phase 2. Obviously the plans here don't show both an office tower and hotel (as is being built with 1C), but you can squint, turn you head slightly to the left, and get an idea of how Phase 2 will venture north over Lindau and into the old Met Center lot.