Mall of America Phase II

[hyrule-mpls]

Has there been any news about the Phase II project for the mall of america? it seems like its been awhile since ive last heard anything!

[The anti-cheesehead]

I think Phase II includes 12 more abercrombie & fitch stores, a two story orange julius with escalators, and an Applebees with a water slide.

[TampaMike]

I'm pretty sure there is a lack of interest by the owners to start any expansions at this moment. Any plans are likely going to be halted for another 2 to 3 years.

[Jennifat]

Last I had heard, expansion plans have been halted indefinitely and/or abandoned, and nothing will move of course until the economic crisis is over.

I remember seeing a proposal from the city of Bloomington somewhere that showed turning what is now the crumbling parking lot across Lindau Lane into a landscaped parking lot, with a fountain and some shrubbery.

Dreaming big there, Bloomington. Dreaming big.

[ScraperDude]

I've been to MOA once, rode Hiawatha line down just to check it out. I'm not a mall person and all I could think about was contracting pink eye from touching any escalator hand rails.
To say the least it was a nightmare and I couldn't wait to haul ass on the train back to Nicolette. Burn it down and build a 8000000000 sq foot Menards.

[hyrule-mpls]

Originally Posted by ScraperDude

I've been to MOA once, rode Hiawatha line down just to check it out. I'm not a mall person and all I could think about was contracting pink eye from touching any escalator hand rails.
To say the least it was a nightmare and I couldn't wait to haul ass on the train back to Nicolette. Burn it down and build a 8000000000 sq foot Menards.

-____________________________-

[He Named Thor]

Why the hell would you expand it? What else can you possibly stick in there? Every other mall I've been to is a copy of the same boring mall retailers, there can't be that many of them.

[diablo234]

I don't think the developer's were going to put more retail into Phase II. I believe they were just going to add a waterpark/casino that will take up most of the space.

[djrules5454]

I think they also had plans for a performance theater and a straight hotel.

Though it probably won't be going through any time within the next year or so.

[Avian001]

Originally Posted by diablo234

I don't think the developer's were going to put more retail into Phase II. I believe they were just going to add a waterpark/casino that will take up most of the space.

The Phase II plan had 450 additional stores. The anchor tenant was a Bass Pro Shop. There was also a luxury "street" included.

BTW, the plans have not been abandoned, though they are on hold.

[skiumah]

Originally Posted by Avian001

The Phase II plan had 450 additional stores. The anchor tenant was a Bass Pro Shop. There was also a luxury "street" included.

BTW, the plans have not been abandoned, though they are on hold.

They were probably hoping to get at least 200 more designer baseball cap shops in the expansion.

[TampaMike]

Is the hotel under construction yet?

[spectre000]

Originally Posted by TampaMike

Is the hotel under construction yet?

The Radisson Blu? Yes it is.

[manjazz123]

Originally Posted by The anti-cheesehead

I think Phase II includes 12 more abercrombie & fitch stores, a two story orange julius with escalators, and an Applebees with a water slide.

Originally Posted by ScraperDude

I've been to MOA once, rode Hiawatha line down just to check it out. I'm not a mall person and all I could think about was contracting pink eye from touching any escalator hand rails.
To say the least it was a nightmare and I couldn't wait to haul ass on the train back to Nicolette. Burn it down and build a 8000000000 sq foot Menards.

Originally Posted by skiumah

They were probably hoping to get at least 200 more designer baseball cap shops in the expansion.

lol sounds like Mall of America is getting quite the upgrades. I can't wait.

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by spectre000

The Radisson Blu? Yes it is.

Nice. Hopefully having somewhat more of permanent visitors in the area will encourage the expansion to happen sooner.

[desertpunk]

Malls, especially megamalls are impossible to finance right now. After the collapse of Mills and GGP, no bank will touch them. If the owners can tap a sovereign wealth fund like Qatar or Abu Dhabi, there may be hope. Otherwise, it could be a long wait.

[diablo234]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Malls, especially megamalls are impossible to finance right now. After the collapse of Mills and GGP, no bank will touch them. If the owners can tap a sovereign wealth fund like Qatar or Abu Dhabi, there may be hope. Otherwise, it could be a long wait.

Luckily though Mall of America is a tourist destination in it's own right so it has a better chance of securing a loan compared with other retail centers which are just centered solely around retail.

[musiccity]

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[Avian001]

A megamall such as the Mall of America does not necessarily follow the trends of regional malls. The average number of daily shoppers at the MOA is 100,000 (Over 200,000 on Black Friday this year). This is greater than the number of daily workers in downtown St. Louis, Cleveland, Indianapolis or Detroit, for example.

To put that into perspective, having that many daily consumers in one building that exceeds the daily working population (and consumer population) of every Midwestern city except Chicago and Minneapolis seems to be a home run regarding the financing of an expansion. So I'm wondering why this hasn't yet gone forward.

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by Avian001

A megamall such as the Mall of America does not necessarily follow the trends of regional malls. The average number of daily shoppers at the MOA is 100,000 (Over 200,000 on Black Friday this year). This is greater than the number of daily workers in downtown St. Louis, Cleveland, Indianapolis or Detroit, for example.

To put that into perspective, having that many daily consumers in one building that exceeds the daily working population (and consumer population) of every Midwestern city except Chicago and Minneapolis seems to be a home run regarding the financing of an expansion. So I'm wondering why this hasn't yet gone forward.

The Radisson Hotel at Mall of Amaerica has gotten financed and is being built. Hotels are hot right now but malls aren't. Just recently, mall vacancy rates have sunk below those of strip centers. Not a good omen even though those vacancy rates would make the owners of office buildings drool. MOA has excellent foot traffic but the original mall is reaching the age when most developers would be considering a major overhaul. Try getting that financed, let alone a major expansion with retailers pulling back on gowth. I firmly believe that unless the European situation craters, we will see credit for retail expansion loosen by 2013 and maybe then MOA can get this baby out of the ground. There are other major mall developments being closely watched like the Shops at Summerlin Centre in Las Vegas which is just a rusting steel skeleton, and Hughes' South St. Seaport redevelopment in New York. These are the kinds of highly visible mall projects that await financing like MOA.