New Radisson Blu at MOA

We’ve watched the new Radisson Blu Hotel at the Mall of America getting built from the ground up, near the south entrance to the Mall off Killibrew Drive, and I had heard it was completed and open for business in March so we went to check it out on St. Patrick’s Day.

This is our first view on the south end of the Mall as we came in from 77th Street and Killibrew Drive. 

From inside the Mall we walked through the expansive sky bridge that connects the Mall to the Blu. 

Fully enclosed, one wall of the sky bridge is decorated with modern art.

The other wall is artfully scattered with square and rectangular windows. 

From those windows we saw another wall of windows, and we also saw doormen posted at the hotel’s front door.  You can sort of see them next to the revolving glass door on the taxi level.

As you walk out of the sky bridge, there is a large room where you see a lot of red — big red chairs for big people and little red chairs for little people.

You also see an open doorway to the left that leads into the wine cellar of the FireLake restaurant.

This appears to be a gathering space or waiting space if you can’t get seated in the restaurant right away.

Less than two days open, the place was in the process of being discovered.

The walls and huge-beamed ceiling in the restaurant and bar are covered with barnwood, like in my home office where I’ve used barnwood from my dad’s old barn when it was taken down in the 1980’s.

We sat in a curved padded booth like they have at PF Chang’s and the Chanhassen Dinner Theater and each had a glass of wine ($8) and shared an appetizer of hand-rubbed chicken wings ($10).  Delicious.

When you walk out of the restaurant, you see down into the front lobby, where those doormen and revolving door lead to the outside.

Everything was sleek and shiny.

We rode the escalator down to the lobby for a closer look.

In the center is a “suspended” fireplace between two hanging chair nests full of pillows.

Back up the escalator and back into the Mall!  I needed a new swimming suit for Marco Island.

The End

Email:  Sue@PrintsPublishing.com

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