Bloomington reviews Mall of America water park financing, public subsidy terms

Holly Masic, Port Authority administrator for the City of Bloomington, told the joint study session that city and port staff were presenting an update on Mall of America’s proposed water park and its financing, including public subsidies already embodied in an April 2024 term sheet and private loan term sheets the developer has obtained. "This has been in discussion in earnest since about 2018," Masic said.

The proposed facility would occupy a 220,000-square-foot building with about 144,000 square feet of pool hall containing one wave pool, a lazy river and roughly 30 water features and slides. Project cost was described in the presentation as approximately $432,000,000; staff said the public contribution in the term sheet totals $160,000,000 of tax increment financing (TIF), composed of an $85,000,000 spending-plan TIF allocation and up to $75,000,000 of regular TIF for parking and public improvements.

Kevin Knaise, assistant Port Authority administrator, and developer representatives outlined the private financing. Staff said the developer has a construction loan term sheet with Infinite Global Real Estate Partners for roughly $120,000,000 at an estimated 14.27% interest rate and a CPACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) term sheet for about $133,000,000 at an estimated 7.43% rate; staff characterized the blended cost of capital at about 10%.

Curt (Kurt)…