Without Raising Taxes, Bloomington Aims To Build Massive Water Park Near MOA
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – City officials in Bloomington have sketched out a plan to build one of North America's largest indoor water parks near the Mall of America, and doing so without having city taxpayers on the hook.
The Star Tribune reports that the city and Triple Five, the MOA's ownership group, have come up with a clever way to pay for the project: Have the city lease the land to a nonprofit, which will borrow money for construction at relatively low interest rates.
The cost of the project? Up to $250 million.
According to a plan outlined in documents, the nonprofit will run the park for 30 to 50 years, with tickets sales covering operating costs and paying off the debt. After the debt is paid off, the city will take control of the park.
As such, property taxes won't be raised to pay for the water park, which will be open to the public.
Where will be the park built? The plan has the park being built on the parking lot just north of the mall, with an additional parking lot being made. One rendering shows the 215,000 square-foot water attraction being connected to the JW Marriot hotel.
City officials told The Star Tribune that the water park would be a year-round "tropical paradise" that'll create more than 1,000 construction and design jobs, and employ 700 people once it's complete.
When would it open? Possibly by fall of 2021.
The project will be discussed in a special city council meeting Thursday night.
