The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It 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. Opened in 1992, the mall receives 40 million visitors annually.[2] The Triple Five Group, owned by Canada's Ghermezian family, owns and manages the Mall of America, as well as the West Edmonton Mall.

 

Design

The Mall of America has a gross area of 4,200,000 sq ft (390,000 m2) or 96.4 acres, enough to fit seven Yankee Stadiums inside, with 2,500,000 sq ft (230,000 m2) available as retail space. The mall is nearly symmetric, with a roughly rectangular floor plan. More than 530 stores are arranged along three levels of pedestrian walkways on the sides of the rectangle, with a fourth level on the east side. Three anchor department stores are located at the corners. The Mall is organized into four different zones, each with its own decorative style.

 

Despite Minnesota's cold winters, only the Mall's entrances and some below ground areas are heated. Heat is allowed in through skylights above Nickelodeon Universe. The majority of the heat is produced by lighting fixtures, other electric devices, and people in the mall.In fact, even during the winter, air conditioning systems are still in use during peak hours to ensure a comfortable shopping environment.[citation needed] Although the common areas are unheated, the individual stores do have heating systems.

 

Two nearly identical seven story parking ramps on the east and west sides of the Mall provide 12,287 parking spaces. Overflow parking north of the building provides an additional 1,200-1,500 spaces in addition to parking provided by IKEA (1,407 spaces) that is part of the currently under construction Phase II expansion of the Mall.

 

History

The Mall's concept was designed 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 (160 m) home run hit by hall-of-famerHarmon 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 now-defunct (as of 2010) 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. 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.

 

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.[7] Following that verdict there were other problems, such as foot traffic within the Mall after the bars (all located on the fourth floor) had closed for the evening.
 

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 court ruled in favor of the Ghermezians, effectively transferring control and planning authority of the Mall back to its original conceptualizer.[8] The dispute stemmed from a 1999 purchase of Teacher's Insurance's 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.

 

Mall contents

Level One

Level One is the location of Nickelodeon Universe, Sea Life Minnesota (underground), The Theme Park Food Court, LEGO, American Girl Doll store, the Apple Store and Microsoft store (directly across from each other near the Lego Store), and of course the first level of general retail.

 

Level Two

Level Two features restaurants, shopping, memorey moments and other stores.

 

Level Three

Level Three has two food courts with more than 20 eateries, Marshall's, mini-golf, and other hot places like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

 

Level Four

Level Four is the entertainment level with The Hooters restaurant, Cantina #1 restaurant, Rick Bronson's House of Comedy, Dick's Last Resort, Skydeck Sports Grille and Lanes and Theatres at Mall of America now occupy the fourth floor as of January 2012. For many years the 4th floor was considered a Ghost Town but has recently surged in popularity and remains 70% occupied. Planet Hollywood, at the height of its success, was once a very popular restaurant on the fourth floor, but vacated the Mall some years ago. This space is now occupied by Dick's Last Resort.

 

Skydeck Sports Grille and Lanes, formerly Jillian's, was initially closed due to low foot traffic and issue running a family friendly restaurant in a space occupied by several bars. The Mall was in negotiations with Dave and Buster's for several years, which failed to re-open the location. In 2011, new owners were brought back in and relaunched the restaurant and lanes under the new name.

 

In order to keep the fourth floor from failing as it did in the early 2000s, the Mall has strategically leased to several different corporations, rather than leasing several spaced to one corporation. The bankruptcy of Jillian's in 2004 lead to the lowest vacancy rate of the 4th floor, at 41%.

 

The original Level Four had a comedy club, Hooters, bowling alley, arcade, and Planet Hollywood