Mall of America (MOA) is a super-regional shopping mall and entertainment complex in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River, and across the Interstate from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. It opened in August 1992 on the former site of Metropolitan Stadium, and is the largest mall in the United States, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and the 12th largest shopping mall in the world.
The mall was developed by the Canadian real estate firm Triple Five Group, led by the Ghermezian family, in a joint venture with Melvin Simon & Associates (later Simon DeBartolo Group, now Simon Property Group) and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA-CREF, now simply TIAA). Simon Property Group acquired TIAA's shares in the property in January 1999, leading to the Ghermezian family to sue them. Then, in September 2003, Simon was forced to sell its disputed stake and management role to Triple Five Group, which eventually gained full control of Mall of America in November 2006. , approximately 32 million people visit the mall annually, 80% of whom are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Illinois and Ohio, making the mall effectively attract more tourists than Walt Disney World and Disneyland combined. Triple Five Group also owns the second largest mall in the United States, American Dream in Bergen County, New Jersey, and the largest mall in Canada, being West Edmonton Mall in Alberta.
Overview
Mall of America has a gross floor area (GFA) of or , and a gross leasable area (GLA) of . The mall is nearly symmetric, with a roughly rectangular floor plan. More than 520 stores are arranged along three levels of pedestrian walkways on the sides of the rectangle, with a fourth level on the south and east sides. Four anchor department stores are located at the corners. The mall is organized into four different zones. Each of those zones had its own decorative style until a series of renovations from 2010 to 2015 led to a unified and more luxurious style, as well as to coincide with the mall's first major expansion. The mall's food court is on the third floor.
Many have described Mall of America as a "city within a city." Despite Minnesota's cold winters, only the mall's entrances and some below ground areas are heated. Heat is allowed in through skylights above the central amusement park area. The majority of the heat is produced by lighting fixtures, other electric devices and people in the mall. Even during the winter, HVAC systems may still be in use during peak hours to ensure a comfortable shopping environment. Although the common areas are unheated, the individual stores do have heating systems.
History 1982–1992: Planning and construction
The Mall of America is located on the former site of the Metropolitan Stadium, where the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Twins played until the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome opened in April 1982. As a result, Metropolitan Stadium was demolished in January 1985, leaving of empty land perfectly situated just 1.5 miles from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and directly off Interstate 494. The Bloomington Port Authority acquired the property from the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority and issued a worldwide Request for Proposals (RFP) to redevelop the land into a major commercial project that same year. A retail and entertainment complex, a convention center, office buildings, or residential housing were the choices given for what would be built on the site. Later that year, the Canadian-based Triple Five Group, led by the Ghermezian brothers, which had recently completed West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, proposed the Minnesota International Center, with an initial concept featuring a massive man-made lake with 6-foot waves for indoor surfing and water skiing. Submarines would also be included to allow visitors to view exotic sea life from underwater vessels. A 12-story rollercoaster, a convention center, two office towers, an 18-story hotel, and an 18-hole golf course were also planned, but the entire proposal was eventually scrapped.
In 1986, Triple Five was officially selected as the developer for the project following their proposal. However, they had revised and submitted plans for a massive enclosed retail and entertainment complex that would feature over 400 stores, restaurants, and an indoor theme park that would formerly be known as Fantasyworld (later rebranded as Knott's Camp Snoopy). The Bloomington City Council approved their updated proposal in 1987, and later that year, Triple Five partnered with the Indianapolis, Indiana-based Melvin Simon & Associates and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) to help develop the project. Three architectural firms—the Los Angeles, California-based Jerde Partnership, led by Jon Jerde, KKE Architects, Inc. of Minneapolis (formerly Korsunsky Krank Erickson), and Hammel, Green and Abrahamson (HGA)—were hired to design the complex. The new project would be called "Mall of America."
Groundbreaking for the mall took place on June 14, 1989, costing approximately $650million to build. To support the massive structure, the City of Bloomington invested over $100million in infrastructure improvements. Jon Jerde designed the mall to feel like a series of distinct neighborhoods rather than one long corridor. The four main zones (East Broadway, West Market, North Garden, South Avenue) were given unique architectural themes to aid navigation and create variety. The building was also designed without a central air conditioning system for the retail areas. Instead, it would rely on the "flywheel effect"—heat generated by skylights, lighting fixtures, and body heat from massive crowds, keeping the interior at nearly 70°F year-round.
1992–2006: Grand opening, early years, and reception
The Mall of America had its grand opening celebration on August 11, 1992, with 330stores and 10,000employees. Its anchor tenants were originally Nordstrom, Macy's, Bloomingdale's (their 15th location nationwide and their first location in Minnesota) and Sears. Many companies opened flagship locations at the mall, including the Disney Store, the Warner Bros. Studio Store, the Xscape Entertainment Center, and the first Lego Store (also referred to as the Lego Imagination Center) location ever. The opening attracted at least 150,000visitors, silencing many critics with skepticism; they initially argued that a massive indoor park and retail center would fail in Minnesota. A commemorative plaque in the mall's amusement park, renamed simply as Camp Snoopy, commemorates the former location of home plate and one seat from Metropolitan Stadium was placed in Mall of America at the exact location it occupied in the stadium, commemorating a home run hit by hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew on June 3, 1967. Melvin Simon & Associates became the managing general partner of the property, alongside TIAA.
The Theatres at Mall of America opened on August 14, 1992, three days after the grand opening of the mall, initially operated by the General Cinema Corporation. It originally featured 14traditional screens with a massive combined seating capacity of 3,776. The movie theater occupied the south side of the fourth floor. Planet Hollywood had its grand opening in December 1993, attracting an estimated 35,000people who crowded the mall's floors and amusement park rides to see celebrity investors. This included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis. Steven Schussler opened his first Rainforest Cafe location in history on the mall's first floor in October 1994. By 1997, Mall of America became the largest shopping mall in total area and largest in total store vendors in the United States when it opened, with 92% occupancy. The Mall of America's 42million annual visitors equal roughly eight times the population of the state of Minnesota.
Underwater World, an aquarium, opened at the mall in 1996, though it struggled financially and filed for bankruptcy in 1998. It was rebranded as Underwater Adventures Aquarium in 2000 after being acquired by the Minnesota Aquarium LLC, a group of investors led by local native Todd Peterson. In June 2001, General Cinema was acquired and rebranded by AMC Theatres, leading to the Theatres at Mall of America to be rebranded and operated as AMC Mall of America 14. In 1999, Jillian's Hi-Life Lanes moved into a massive space on the fourth floor that had previously been occupied by America Live! (a multi-venue nightclub complex) and the Gatlin Brothers Music City theater. At the time of its opening, the Mall of America location was the largest in the Jillian's chain.
Triple Five Group v. Simon Property Group In March 1998, TIAA requested Simon DeBartolo Group and Triple Five Group to purchase half of their 55% stake in the property. Herbert Simon, Chairman of Simon Property Group, responded with a letter made by Triple Five, ensuring that any deal would be fair to them rather than just a private deal for the Simon family's benefit. Despite this, Randolph Foxworthy, principal of Si-Minn, Inc. (Mall of America Company) secretly sent emails to Simon, explaining how they could acquire TIAA's shares. During a partnership meeting in December of that year, TIAA asked again for Triple Five and Simon to acquire their shares in MOA. Even though the request specifically asked the purchase to be a joint effort, Simon acquired TIAA's 27.5% equity stake in the property in January 1999, giving them majority ownership without notifying the Ghermezian brothers about the deal or the negotiations. As a result, Triple Five Group sued Simon Property Group on October 29, 1999, citing fiduciary duty violation. In September 2003, after a protracted six-year legal battle between Simon and Triple Five Group over majority ownership of the site, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Magnuson ruled in favor of the Ghermezians, famously noting that evidence from the trial—including secretly recorded phone conversations—contained behavior that could best be characterized as "boorish" and something "one might expect to see on a playground" rather than in high-level business. He labeled Simon's actions as the "worst kind of self-dealing and subterfuge."
Simon contended that Triple Five simply lacked the money required for the acquisition at the time of the 1999deal, and also claimed that TIAA specifically did not want to deal with the Ghermezians, making Simon the only viable buyer. They also argued that by stepping in to buy the stake themselves, they actually protected Triple Five by preventing TIAA from selling to an outside party, which could have resulted in the loss of management fees for the partnership. Despite this, the judge rejected these claims, ruling that Triple Five actually have enough cash in 1999to cover the purchase. The court found that Simon had intentionally concealed the negotiations to usurp the business opportunity for themselves. As a punishment, he forced Simon to sell its disputed stake directly to Triple Five Group at a fixed price of $81.4million, and they were fired as the manager. On November 3, 2006, the Ghermezians gained full control of Mall of America by spending $1billion to acquire Simon Property Group's remaining shares.
2000–2018: 10th anniversary, fourth floor decline and revitalization, and Phase I renovations/expansions