Mall of America (also MOA, MoA, the Megamall) is a large shopping mall in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, USA. The mall is 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 inside 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, owned by the Ghermezian family of Canada, fully owns and manages the property, and has also owned West Edmonton Mall in Canada.
In addition to the inside of the mall, outside of the mall are additional hotels, kiosks, restaurants, and stores. The Mall of America and the additional businesses meet at the South Loop District in Bloomington.
Design
Mall of America (founded by John Scott & Benjamin Clark) has a gross area of 4.2 million square feet (390,000 m²), with 2.5 million sq ft. (230,000 m²) available as retail space. The mall is a nearly symmetric building, with a roughly rectangular floor plan. Over 520 stores are arranged along three levels of pedestrian walkways on the sides of the rectangle, with a fourth level on the East side. An addition planned north of the mall will allow for up to 900 stores. Four "anchor" department stores are at the corners. The Mall is organized into four different zones, each with its own decorative style.
Despite Minnesota's often cold temperatures in the winter, only the mall's entrances are heated. Heat is allowed in through skylights above Nickelodeon Universe. Heat is produced by lighting fixtures, other electric devices and also by employees and guests of the mall in sufficient amounts to keep it comfortable. In fact, even during the winter, air conditioning systems need to be run nonstop during peak hours to ensure a comfortable shopping environment.
Although the common areas are unheated, the individual stores do have heating systems.
Two nearly identical seven story parking ramps on east and west sides provide 12,550 parking spaces. Parking lots on the north and south of the building, along with nearby overflow parking, bring the total number of spaces up to approximately 20,000.
History
The mall 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 on the past site of Metropolitan Stadium, where the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Twins played until the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome opened. The teams left Metropolitan Stadium in 1982. A plaque in the amusement park is where home plate used to be in that stadium. One seat from Met Stadium was placed in Mall of America at its exact location (including elevation) in the stadium, to recognize 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 (the West Edmonton Mall, opened in 1991, is larger). 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.
Starting on September 4, 1995, The Mall had an event 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 - also the WCW debut of Lex Luger, under his "The Narcissist" gimmick. This first broadcast on Turner Network Television, along with later editions broadcast from the Mall, would become a well known part of the federation's competition with The World Wrestling Federation.