MidWest
Minneapolis Approves Federal Stimulus Money for Mall of America Hotel
August 31, 2010
Although it's home to stores for almost anything anyone could ever want, the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis will soon get the one thing it's long lacked, thanks to an influx of federal stimulus money: a luxury hotel.
Despite objections by some county officials, who have expressed concern about using stimulus funds to build an upscale hotel, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners earlier this month voted to give the Bloomington Port Authority in Bloomington, Minn., $40.3 million in tax-free bonds — made possible by the federal government's 2009 stimulus bill — to help finance the $130 million hotel project.
"It just ends up being a good use of what this bonding authority was intended to do — to help the economic recovery," Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The Mall of America has been trying to build a new hotel for nearly three years. With funding in place, construction is now set to begin by the end of the year, with an expected opening in 2013. Once complete, the property will feature 12 stories, 501 guest rooms and 22,000 square feet of meeting space, not to mention a spa and several restaurants.
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