Mall of America

Address: 60 East Broadway, Bloomington, MN, 55425

Hours:

10:00 - 21:30 ( Mon - Sat )  11:00 - 19:00 ( Sun )  

Mall of America (also MOA, MoA, or the Megamall) is a super-regional shopping mall located in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The mall is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the interstate from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. In the United States, it is the second largest enclosed mall in terms of retail space but is largest in terms of total enclosed floor area. Opened in 1992, the mall received 40 million visitors in 2006. Triple Five Group fully owns and manages the property.

The concept was designed and built by Triple Five Group, owned by the Ghermezian brothers of Canada, who also own the biggest shopping mall in North America, the West Edmonton Mall. Mall of America is located on the former site of Metropolitan Stadium, where the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Twins played until the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome opened. The teams left Met Stadium in 1982. A plaque in the amusement park commemorates the former location of home plate. One seat from Met Stadium was placed in Mall of America at the exact location (including elevation) it occupied in the stadium, to commemorate a 520 foot home run hit by hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew on June 3, 1967.

In 1986, The Bloomington Port Authority signed an agreement with the Ghermezian Organization. Groundbreaking for the mall took place on June 14, 1989. Organizations involved include Melvin Simon and Associates, Teachers Insurance and Annuity (a.k.a. TIAA), the Triple Five Group, and the office of architect Jon Jerde.

The mall opened its doors to the public August 11, 1992. Even before opening, Mall of America had earned several nicknames, including "The Megamall" (or "The Megamess" during construction), "Sprawl of America", "Hugedale" (in reference to the four major "Dale" shopping malls within the Twin Cities, Rosedale, Southdale, Ridgedale and Brookdale) and, simply, "The Mall".

It became the second largest shopping mall in total area and largest in total store vendors in the United States when it opened, however, the mall has never been the largest in the world (at the time it opened, it was #2 globally to the West Edmonton Mall). Mall of America is the most visited shopping mall in the world with more than 40 million visitors annually (or roughly eight times the population of the state of Minnesota). The mall employs over 12,000 workers.

From September 4, 1995, The Mall became a venue for live television for the first time. Time-Warner owned professional wrestling company World Championship Wrestling set up in the building for the Inaugural edition of WCW Monday Nitro. This debut broadcast on Turner Network Television, along with later editions broadcast from the Mall, would go onto compete with The World Wrestling Federation

During its run as an all encompassing entertainment and retail venue, certain aspects-most notably bars-have come under scrutiny. A Mardi Gras themed bar, Fat Tuesdays, shut its doors in early 2000 due to indecent exposure and alcohol related offenses, for ignoring warnings from the mall and Bloomington police to not repeat incidents caught on tape the year before. Following that verdict were other problems, such as foot traffic within the Mall after the bars (all located on the fourth floor) had closed for the evening. The Mall storefronts were closed, however. The Hooters restaurant and the AMC movie theatre are the only establishments remaining on the fourth floor.

In 2003, after a protracted six year legal battle between Simon Property Group, the managing general partner of the property, and the Ghermezian brothers/Triple Five Group, over majority ownership of the site, a federal appeals judge ruled in favor of the Ghermezians, effectively transferring control and planning authority of the mall back to its original conceptualizer. The dispute stemmed from a 1999 purchase of Teacher's Insurance 27.5% equity stake by Simon Properties, giving them majority ownership. The Ghermezians claimed they were never told of the deal and sued Simon, citing fiduciary responsibility.

On November 3, 2006, the Ghermezians gained full control of Mall of America, spending US$1 billion to do so. The ruling cleared the way for Triple Five to begin work on what is being called "Phase II".

There have been occasional suicides at the Mall. A recent one occurred on January 6, 2008 when a man jumped to his death off of the east side parking ramp.

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