Super-sized Mall of America to go mega with $2.5B expansion
Just when you thought Mall of America had it all, soon you could swim, skate,
stay longer…
To glimpse the expansion plans at Mall of America, check out its Canadian sibling, the West Edmonton Mall.
That Canadian mall features an indoor water park of jaw-dropping size — six acres under glass, with more than a dozen water slides, bungee jumping, a wave pool and more.
Mall of America in Bloomington plans a similar spectacle “of a size and scale that it would be a tourist attraction in and of itself,” said Kurt Hagen, senior vice president of development for Triple Five Worldwide, which owns both huge malls.
“We are intending to do a major water park resort.”
The Edmonton mall also contains an NHL-sized skating rink. Bloomington’s mall wants to build a similar rink, ringed by shops, in its Phase II development — unless mall officials come up with something even better.
“Today, it’s a skating rink, but tomorrow, it may be something we haven’t even thought of,” said Maureen Bausch, MOA’s executive vice president for business development.
And the Edmonton mall features a pair of hotels, enticing visitors to stay for days, not just hours.
Until four months ago, Mall of America had no hotels on site. Soon, it’s likely to have three — maybe four — as its expansion rolls on.
“It becomes another reason to come to Mall of America,” said Jim McComb, a Twin Cities retail analyst. “The longer you keep somebody on your property, the more money they’ll spend with you.
Shopping Centers ranked Mall of America as the largest of the nation’s 113,000 shopping centers.