Mall of America - Bloomington

[QuietBlue]

It's on the ground floor, but I don't remember what side. I saw it the last time I was there.

[iMad]

Wetzels Pretzels is on the west side across from Godiva.

[HiawathaGuy]

Anthropologie plans flagship store at Mall of America
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... store.html

[mister.shoes]

mrs.shoes will be thrilled to hear that! She loves that store.

I do find it humorous that the 50th and France store is always called "Edina" when it's in MPLS proper. Oh well, our neighbors to the southwest have done a bang-up job claiming that entire intersection as theirs.

[matthew5080]

I like that it's going into the addition... it'll be nice to have retail finally going in there.

[matthew5080]

I'm not entirely sure where to put this as it references both the Mall of America and the South Loop development... Anyway, I found this to be interesting, to say the least.

Connecting thousands of potential new hotel rooms, apartments and offices, the South Loop’s Lindau Lane is planned as a new kind of Main Street and a pedestrian link with major employers, such as HealthPartners to the east.

The mall will slowly open up as its transit center and light rail stop is extended with a storefront presence on 24th Avenue. Lindau Lane also will extend through several blocks of “supportive retail,” such as restaurants and meeting spaces that complement the MOA’s stores and serve airport travelers. . .

The South Loop will be tied together with “green streets” and extensive boulevard plantings. New apartments and condominiums will be concentrated east of 30th Avenue near the Bloomington Central Station light rail stop. . .

Bloomington anticipates that up to 65 percent of its new development could take place in the South Loop in the next 50 years. And, nationwide, planners are creating “green” walking environments in older suburbs like Bloomington.

http://www.startribune.com/plans-call-f ... 375859041/

[min-chi-cbus]

I was just in Honolulu this past week and I was surprised to find that they have at least TWO of every single high-end retail store a city/metro could ever dream of: Hermes, Cartier, Yves Saint Lauren, Louis Vitton, Prada, Gucci, etc. etc. etc. I have to say that, as a man who hates shopping but loves to see progress (like the Anthropologie flagship), I don't get it.

[maxbaby]

It's coming.
http://www.startribune.com/it-s-officia ... 375917651/

[QuietBlue]

I was just in Honolulu this past week and I was surprised to find that they have at least TWO of every single high-end retail store a city/metro could ever dream of: Hermes, Cartier, Yves Saint Lauren, Louis Vitton, Prada, Gucci, etc. etc. etc. I have to say that, as a man who hates shopping but loves to see progress (like the Anthropologie flagship), I don't get it.

They're geared towards tourists, particularly from Asia.

[HiawathaGuy]

Cray Inc. is in talks to leave St. Paul for Mall of America
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... -paul.html
*LOCKED*

Gist:
It was reported last month that Cray was considering a variety of options for the approximately 400 employees in its 72,000-square-foot St. Paul offices. Mall of America has been picky about its office space anchor tenant because it wants one that will use the restaurants and hotels, Mall of America Senior Vice President of Development Kurt Hagen said in a March interview. Hagen said at the time that Mall of America signed a term sheet with a prospective lead office tenant that it planned to announce within 45 days. Based upon various market sources, Hagen was likely referring to the Cray deal.

If this is true, it's another blow to downtown St. Paul.

[grant1simons2]

Shit.

http://investors.cray.com/phoenix.zhtml ... ID=2161650

[acs]

The MOA has to be one of the worst, most parasitic things to ever happen to our downtowns, and unfortunately our state legislators are all too happy to keep throwing hundreds of millions in subsidies their way, without which this never would have happened.

[BikesOnFilm]

No, they probably would have relocated to a building on the 494 strip if not for MOA. From the discussion in the Galtier thread, it seems like leaving was motivated less by a particular new tower and more by the lack of effort put into maintaining their old one.

[mattaudio]

But there's also 90,000 SF of good (and cheap!) office space in the St. Paul CBD if they really wanted to stay, especially after the Travelers consolidation / Ecolab move.

[matthew5080]

What a sad day for downtown Saint Paul. However, if Cray truly wanted to stay downtown then they would have. At least this addition to the Mall will be getting some use and foot traffic. Anytime I walk by it seems like a ghost town as there's nothing going on down there.

[HiawathaGuy]

Cray Inc. confirms St. Paul office move to Mall of America
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... s-moa.html

[acs]

No, they probably would have relocated to a building on the 494 strip if not for MOA. From the discussion in the Galtier thread, it seems like leaving was motivated less by a particular new tower and more by the lack of effort put into maintaining their old one.

Actually if there's two maxims that have consistently held true about corporate headquarters in the region its: 1) if you're a west metro company, you stay in the west metro, and vice versa for the East. Companies rarely move their headquarters "across" the river, and 2) once you move city to suburb, you don't go back, you only move suburbs.

[David Greene]

No, they probably would have relocated to a building on the 494 strip if not for MOA. From the discussion in the Galtier thread, it seems like leaving was motivated less by a particular new tower and more by the lack of effort put into maintaining their old one.

Very true. If the Mall tower weren't there, it would have been somewhere else. The current St. Paul building was untenable. It's a terrible building and the owners are in deep trouble.

But there's also 90,000 SF of good (and cheap!) office space in the St. Paul CBD...especially after the Travelers consolidation / Ecolab move

I wondered about that too. Is it contiguous space? Does it have parking? As sad as I am to say it, parking seems to be a BFD for employees. I believe Cray really did want a downtown location but several things conspired to make it not possible in the eyes of the execs. People specifically asked about the Railroad and Bank building and were flat-out told it wasn't a viable option. Later I was told that that building's ownership is also in big trouble and I'm sure people were afraid of a repeat of the Galtier disaster.

I have pretty strong suspicion that the Mall/suburbs was not the CEO's first choice. But the CEO isn't a dictator. That said, the chosen location is probably the best for Cray outside of the downtowns. I would have loved to go to the Midway but that wouldn't be ready in time.

[David Greene]

Actually if there's two maxims that have consistently held true about corporate headquarters in the region its: 1) if you're a west metro company, you stay in the west metro, and vice versa for the East. Companies rarely move their headquarters "across" the river, and 2) once you move city to suburb, you don't go back, you only move suburbs.

I have no idea where you get that last bit.

BTW, this isn't Cray's headquarters. That's in Seattle. It is the largest engineering location, however, along with housing the legal and service departments.

[David Greene]

But there's also 90,000 SF of good (and cheap!) office space in the St. Paul CBD if they really wanted to stay, especially after the Travelers consolidation / Ecolab move.

One other thing on this. The PiPress is reporting Cray asked for 100,000 sq. ft. Probably for expansion as was stated in the press release. It's possible the Ecolab/Travelers space wasn't enough.