Vikings group has plans for luxury hotel

Eagan could be getting a four-star hotel and conference center.

MV Eagan Ventures submitted a planned unit development application to the city last week detailing plans for the upscale hotel just east of the new Minnesota Vikings headquarters in the Viking Lakes development.

It would be built on a site that was used for parking during the recent Vikings training camp.

Plans are described as “American Nordic” using the modern Scandinavian feel similar to the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.

According to the final planned development application, “Our Project will be a conference facility and retreat destination for some of Minnesota’s best and most iconic Minnesota-based companies and for fans attending training camp, enjoying a wedding celebration or having a family reunion. Local entrepreneurs will be able to host meetings in state-of-the-art meeting spaces and enjoy the latest technology. Area residents will enjoy our signature restaurant and rooftop bar and lounge.”

The hotel and conference center would include 14 stories, 320 guest rooms and suites and 18,000 square feet of meeting space.

Luxury suites will be up to 2,000 square feet within the hotel.

Meeting space includes multiple board rooms, a 600-person capacity 8,500-square-foot ballroom, junior ballroom, and a 5,000-square-foot event center.

There are also plans for a fitness center, spa, 9,400-square-foot-restaurant, 5,100-square-foot-rooftop bar and retail shops.

The facility would have approximately 670 surface and underground parking spaces. The site will maximize the hotel’s visibility from I-494.

The project may include one or more local business partners, according to the application.

According to a Viking Lakes conference center hotel feasibility and market study released last year, a 300-room conference center would have a maximum capture potential for just about any event.

The study also revealed a funding feasibility gap of $36 million to $40 million.

“The gap still exists, but we’re working on options to bridge it,” said Jeff Anderson, MV Eagan spokesman.

According to the city, a subdivision application could be tentatively heard by the Advisory Planning Commission on Sept. 25 with a City Council review Oct. 2 and a planned development review in later October or November.

It would be the only conference center east of I-35W along the I-494 corridor and one of the largest in the entire metro.

“They have a reputation for quality,” said Tom Garrison, Eagan communications director. “A conference center and hotel is something Eagan doesn’t have and the southeast metro needs and there’s a market for one.”

The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis and the Hilton Downtown Minneapolis are the only two hotels that offer more than 20,000 square feet of continuous space. There would be about 18,000 square feet of meeting space in the MV Eagan Ventures plans.

There are several conference centers a few miles west in Bloomington. The proposal would have fewer rooms than Radisson Blu at Mall of America (500) and Marriott Minneapolis Airport (472), and closer to the room count at the JW Marriott Minneapolis Mall of America (342) and the Embassy Suites Minneapolis Airport (310).

The hotel would attract a base of customers from the TCO Performance Center along with the Twin Cities Orthopedics medical center, Mall of America and airport.

The Viking Lakes site includes plans for a variety of mixed uses, including office, retail, restaurants and residential multi-family homes.

“The hotel/conference facility is the logical next step for Vikings Lakes to attract more world-class companies and opportunities to Eagan and the broader Minneapolis-St. Paul area,” Anderson said.

Nothing is official.

If all goes to plan, the hotel and conference center would open in 2020.

The Viking Lakes Master Plan also includes plans for an 250,000-square-foot office building east of the proposed hotel.

Future plans include a parking structure that will eventually replace the hotel’s surface parking area for the both the hotel and office to share.

MV Eagan Ventures is not requesting approval of a future office building or parking structure at this time.

Source:  Hometownsource.com