With over 40 million visitors annually, the Mall of America is the largest shopping center in the United States. It offers access to amenities that can keep families busy for days, but what was missing was the convenience of an on-site hotel to rest their feet after a long day. 

Mortenson was the developer and design-builder for the 500-room boutique hotel that is directly connected via skyway to the mall. It offers a restaurant and lounge, spa and fitness facilities, and more than 23,000 square feet of meeting space, encompassing two ballrooms and an indoor pool. The mall is adjacent to the mall's light rail transit station and is two miles from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport. 

The project was incredibly complex and had various stakeholders with varying interests, all of which needed to be carefully aligned. The two-acre hotel site was very congested with three sides located

Radisson Blu Mall of America was one of the first hotels in Minnesota to receive LEED certification. Ninety percent of the lighting is LED, which is significantly cooler than other forms of lighting so the output is better and reduces cooling costs. Food waste is taken to a pig farmer and composting is planned for the future. The hotel also adheres to responsible corporate business practices including a carbon offsetting program, recycling throughout the building, low flow faucets, and toilets and linens made from fabric that uses 100 times less water than cotton. Together, this resulted in an overall energy savings of 23%.