Twin Cities Real Estate BlogRecently posted or modified blog posts by tag - Bloomingtonhttps://www.minnesotaconnected.com/blog/Copyright MinnesotaConnected.com2022-10-28T07:18:01-07:00tag:minnesotaconnected.com,2012-09-20:14457Minnesota Mom Sinks $4,000 Half Court Shot <a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Screen-Shot-2015-12-18-at-7.55.06-PM.png"><img class="wp-image-886662 aligncenter" alt="mom makes miracle shot" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Screen-Shot-2015-12-18-at-7.55.06-PM.png" width="561" height="328" /></a>
Not to be <a href="http://minnesotaconnected.com/arts-entertainment/sports/miracle-basket-caught-on-video-in-northfield_880842/" target="_blank">outdone</a> by Oman Oman, a Minnesota mom made a miracle shot this week, earning $4,000 off her daughter's tuition.
Angela Ramey and her daughter Grace were the top performers in a recent fundraiser at Bethany Academy in Bloomington. As a reward, the school gave Angela three tries at a half-court basketball shot to provide her daughter a 50% discount off next year's $8,000 tuition charge.
Angela missed the first shot. And the second.
Down to her final attempt, Ramey chose to shoot granny-style, heaving the ball underhand and leaving the shot several feet short of the hoop.
And then it bounced.
Nice shot, mom.
Volunteers from Bethany helped to pack over 40,000 meals during the fundraiser, which culminated in the December 4th "Bethany Loves Bloomington" event shown in the video.
Photo courtesy of: Wikipedia Commons
2015-12-17T23:00:00-07:002022-10-28T07:09:42-07:00Brent Leetag:minnesotaconnected.com,2012-09-20:14697Six Mall of America Developments<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/mall-of-america-expansion-2015-entrance.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-179905 aligncenter" alt="mall of america expansion - 2015 - entrance" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/mall-of-america-expansion-2015-entrance.jpg" width="570" height="266" /></a>
Despite news of <a href="http://minnesotaconnected.com/news/mall-of-americas-hopes-of-regaining-supremacy-dashed-meet-dubais-mall-of-the-world_274040/" target="_blank">more international competition</a> stepping onto the scene, Minnesota's Mall of America is not slowing down. New stores, restaurants and even a multi-stage expansion are combining to make a perfect buzz-storm for the tourist hot-spot.
#1 More Stuff for Kids... Literally
The colorful and classical landmark of the <a href="http://minnesotaconnected.com/mls/neighborhood/linden-hills/" target="_blank">Linden Hills Neighborhood</a> (and a personal favorite when I was a few feet shorter) Creative Kidstuff isn't just launching its own <a href="http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_26749104/creative-kidstuff-launches-kids-tv-show" target="_blank">television program</a>; they are also putting up a trial store in the Mall of America! Situated next to Lego Land on the south wing, this holiday season could be the determining factor for to whether Creative Kidstuff makes a permanent home in Bloomington. Creative Kidstuff has been getting its expansion feet wet through five chain stores in airport terminals, but a location like this will definitely raise the stakes.
[caption id="attachment_344358" align="aligncenter" width="570"]<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Creative-Kidstuff-Meet-Minneapolis.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-344358 " alt="Creative Kidstuff (Meet Minneapolis)" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Creative-Kidstuff-Meet-Minneapolis.jpg" width="570" height="430" /></a> Creative Kidstuff in Linden Hills[/caption]
#2 Hard Rockin'
A couple months ago <a href="http://www.hardrock.com/cafes/mall-of-america/" target="_blank">Hard Rock Cafe</a> placed itself right at the center of attention in the Nickelodeon Universe. With a live performance stage, seating for more than 400 and of course plenty of purchasable memorabilia, the restaurant gives yet another reason not to spend time in the real outdoors this winter.
#3 Expansion Space in Demand
With Class A office space already at record lows in Minneapolis, many businesses are eyeing the office buildings <a href="http://minnesotaconnected.com/news/groundbreaking-at-moa-expansion-facts-and-figures_191374/" target="_blank">currently being constructed</a> in the first phase of the Mall of America's expansion. The Triple Five Group, the Edmonton, Alberta-based owner of the Mall, doesn't even believe it will be able to accommodate all those interested in the space.
[caption id="attachment_179904" align="aligncenter" width="570"]<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/moa-phase-1c-expansion-2014.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-179904 " alt="moa-phase-1c-expansion-2014" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/moa-phase-1c-expansion-2014.jpg" width="570" height="400" /></a> Office Buildings are currently being built at the Mall's north entrance[/caption]
Why would so many businesses want to move to this suburban location? Light-rail to both Minneapolis and St. Paul, quick airport access and a huge variety of restaurants, shops and hotel rooms connected through indoor walkways might have something to do with it.
#4 Bringing in the World
Chinese students at the University of Minnesota are not alone among their countrymen in getting a bigger welcome to the Mall of America. Pulling in tourists from the world's most populous country is becoming a critical project. Not only has the MOA contacted a marketing firm to help put Minnesota on the map for Chinese, but it has also put plans in place to have a Mandarin version of its website live in November.
With no sales tax on clothing or shoes, Minneapolis is getting preferential treatment to other well-known cities on the coasts. Some stores such as Coach and Kay Jewelers, who are popular with Chinese tourists, have even hired employees who can speak Mandarin.
#5 L.L. Bean Incoming
The Maine-based L.L. Bean will be opening its first store west of the Mississippi in the Mall of America this November. It hopes its iconic outdoor boots will be a hit among Minnesota's hunters, woodsmen or ironically-dressed hipsters. L.L. Bean will be located in a part of the now vacated Bloomingdale's space. Although the Twin Cities are not in any shortage of outdoor sporting goods retailers, L.L. Bean will make a welcome addition.
#6 There's Never Enough Fish!
Sea Life Minnesota is performing its largest expansion ever taken since its original opening as "Underwater World" in 1996. This winter the aquarium, located in the Mall of America's basement, will be adding $2 million worth of new features.
<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sea-Life-Minnesota-Stingray-Adventure.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-344359 aligncenter" alt="Sea Life Minnesota Stingray-Adventure" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sea-Life-Minnesota-Stingray-Adventure.jpg" width="570" height="342" /></a>
This will include a 15,000 gallon stingray touch pool, an additional touch pool for marine life of the Pacific Northwest and a shipwreck themed exhibit. Sea Life will not be closing its aquariums as this expansion takes place.
Photos via: DLR Group -- <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/minneapolisorg/" target="_blank">Meet Minneapolis</a> -- Sea Life Minnesota
2014-10-27T22:00:00-07:002022-10-28T07:11:25-07:00Erik Bergstag:minnesotaconnected.com,2012-09-20:14868Mall of America's Hopes of Regaining Supremacy Dashed! Meet Dubai's 'Mall of the World'[caption id="attachment_274042" align="aligncenter" width="570"]<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Mall-of-the-Emirates-Peijian-Huang.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-274042 " alt="Mall of the Emirates- Peijian Huang" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Mall-of-the-Emirates-Peijian-Huang.jpg" width="570" height="320" /></a> The Mall of the Emirates, existing mega-mall in the United Arab Emirates - Peijian Huang[/caption]
Minnesota invented the indoor mall concept out of necessity. Then we built the Mall of America for the sake of tourism. But sometimes a good idea can get a little warped when others try to copy it.
Take the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Prussia_Mall" target="_blank">King of Prussia Mall</a> for example, it's just a commercial space that kept getting added onto; its two separate hubs are currently being connected so it can all be under one roof (and for a brief moment be bigger than the MOA, before <a href="http://minnesotaconnected.com/news/local-happenings/the-mall-of-america-will-be-even-bigger-with-300-million-expansion_179902/" target="_blank">Phase II</a> of course). The West Edmonton Mall is the biggest in North America, yet receives almost 10 million less visitors per year than our Minnesota landmark. Worst of all, the New South China Mall (world's largest mall until presumably the MOA's doubling expansion) of Dongguan, which after being mostly vacant for a decade, has only recently shown <a href="http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?MainCatID=0&cid=1102&id=20140706000009" target="_blank">signs of life</a>.
Despite these odd and rather failed attempts to surpass Minnesota ingenuity, plans for an eclipsing edifice of epic proportions has stepped onto the scene.
The United Arab Emirates was once was a sparsely populated slice of desert; that was fifty years ago. Since then an almost egregious influx of oil money has grown its population, wealth and aspirations. Cheap foreign labor (from other parts of the Middle East) has allowed for semi-surreal construction projects in the country, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa" target="_blank">Burj Khalifa </a>(the tallest building in the world). This week the UAE's most prized city, Dubai (and the company Dubai Holding), <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/6/dubai-world-s-largestmall.html" target="_blank">released plans</a> to make an indoor mall, the 'Mall of the World,' that would seek to dwarf all other contenders.
Even with a doubling of retail square footage in our Mall of America and the sum of its various planned phases, it would fall well short of the 8 million sq. feet emerging within the Dubai behemoth. Dubai Holding, the company behind the project, hopes to keep the tourist momentum going for their city; they hope to make Dubai into a cultural and economic hub for the 2 billion people living in that region of the world. By contrast the bulk of visitors to the Mall of America come from the US and Canada, who don't even have a combined half a billion people to their name.
Here's the Mall of the World's conceptual video:
Excited?
I might just wait for some country to build a 'Mall of the Universe' before heading to the airport; for the time being I'll be happy enough to stay on for the final stop of the <a href="http://www.metrotransit.org/blue-line-map" target="_blank">blue line</a>.
Photo by: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pjhuang/" target="_blank">Peijian Huang</a>
2014-07-06T22:00:00-07:002022-10-28T07:12:34-07:00Erik Bergstag:minnesotaconnected.com,2012-09-20:15661Great Happy Hour Specials and Burgers to Die For -- 'Lucky's 13 Pub' Restaurant Review<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-01-at-12.45.48-PM.png"><img class=" wp-image-2196 aligncenter" alt="Lucky's 13 Pub - Bloomington" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-01-at-12.45.48-PM.png" width="457" height="333" /></a>
The Minneapolis/St.Paul area has an array of choices when it comes to food. It’s almost overwhelming when choosing which area and/or type of restaurant to go to. I find picking a location that has a little bit of everything for the whole clan is almost always a good idea. In particular, a popular theme to Minneapolis restaurants are the pubs and eateries.
When I met up with a friend for drinks, we decided the Bloomington area was easiest. We agreed to meet at a fast-paced, crowded establishment named <a href="http://www.luckys13pub.com/">Lucky’s 13 Pub</a>. It was spacious but had the ambience of a quaint pub. The bar was at center, while the room had one side that claimed “Dinner-for Two” and another that boasted “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPCjC543llU">It’s 5’ O'Clock Somewhere</a>.”
<a href="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-01-at-12.46.11-PM.png"><img class=" wp-image-2197 aligncenter" alt="Happy Hour - Lucky 13's Pub" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/693/image/minnesotaconnected/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-01-at-12.46.11-PM.png" width="445" height="494" /></a>
Once we were seated, I noticed the wide variety of food options. The possibilities were endless. They had everything from Walleye Spring Rolls to a classic Meatloaf Melt. The nachos that we settled on for an appetizer were piled high with the 'fixins' and was a tasty starter. But, the largest menu selection of all were the burgers. I am a sucker for a good burger, and a good burger it was. My choice was stacked high with bacon, onion, cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce. A bite of my dinner date’s “Guac Burger” made me into a believer that guacamole isn’t just a sidekick for tortilla chips. Also, the happy hour selection was reasonable and the Bloody Mary's were delicious.
Overall, Lucky’s 13 Pub was a personal favorite and offers good times, good food, and good drinks. If you aren’t in the area, check out the other locations Mendota, Fargo, and Plymouth.
Photos by: Kendra Ackerman2013-07-31T22:00:00-07:002022-10-28T07:18:01-07:00Kendra Ackerman