Bloomington lays out plan for $230M-plus Mall of America water park

Bloomington officials have refined plans for a massive water park that would be attached to the Mall of America — and construction could begin as soon as a year from now.

The city’s Port Authority first floated the idea of a MOA water park back in March, with a city ownership model. Much has changed since then.

First, the location of the water park has shifted. Instead of going on the east side of the mall, city staff are proposing the facility be built just north of the Mall of America, on the large surface parking lot east of the IKEA store.

The water park has gotten bigger — it's now proposed at 250,000 square feet of actual water-park space, which would make it the second largest in North America. The price estimate, like the size, has crept up from less than $200 million to between $230 million and $250 million.

The city would lease land from MOA owner Triple Five for 40 years. The Mall owns that larger parking lot. The Port Authority and Triple Five would act as co-developers of the project. A nonprofit organization would own the water park, though the Port Authority hasn't decided on a makeup of the board. A Triple Five entity would operate the water park.

The nonprofit model would allow the water park to avoid paying property taxes. The city would financially back the nonprofit with its taxing authority to allow it to get lower interest rates for construction loans. City staff said in its report that it believes ticket revenue from the water park could cover the debt payments, maintenance and operations. However, in the event the water park isn’t self-sustaining, the city would be able to tap into a sales and use taxes on the Mall of America. The city says no property taxes would be used.

The city would use $45 million to $55 million in tax-increment financing to construct a new parking ramp to make up for the displaced surface parking. That cost also includes site work, utilities and a skyway connection to the Mall of America. The ramp would be built in a manner that would allow it to be converted to housing or some other use should the demand for parking decline due to driverless vehicles and increased car sharing.

Though the city says there are still many factors which could affect the project, construction could begin as soon as late 2019 and wrap up in 2021.

The Bloomington Port Authority and City Council will discuss the proposal at a Thursday meeting.

“This has been a missing component to this project (MOA) for a long time,” said Port Authority Administrator Schane Rudlang. “It’s an amenity the metro doesn’t have.”

Rudlang is asking the City Council and Port Authority to weigh in on the structure of the deal and to direct him to move forward with analysis. If so, he would come back in late November with development and design contracts.  

Minneapolis-based DLR Group has done preliminary design work and Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. US Inc. has been helping the Port Authority with pricing.

What does this mean for Mall of America expansion?

The site of the water park is on land where Triple Five had, three years ago, floated a luxury retail expansion of the mall. It's gone nowhere.

Rudlang said that this doesn’t mean the Mall is done expanding. Triple Five also owns land to the east of the mall and the current Sears store faces an uncertain future due to the company's bankruptcy.

“I view these expansions like they are Lego blocks — they can go into a couple different spots,” Rudlang said.

Source:  Bizjournals.com/twincities