By the Closer Look Inspectors team · Facts checked October 2026 against the sources listed below · About our inspectors
For a buyer, owner or lender in Bloomington, a commercial property inspection shows how a building has actually aged before the area around it changes again, in a city that says two-thirds of its growth potential over the next 40 years will be realized in the South Loop District, home to the Mall of America.
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The South Loop: Mall of America and a district of large buildings
The Mall of America sits on the original Metropolitan Stadium site. The Twins and Vikings left for the Metrodome in 1982, and the mall opened on August 11, 1992 with 330 stores. The city's South Loop District plan says the area north of 86th Street has mostly developed with large buildings and surface parking lots that often occupy full blocks, and that the district's growth since the 1970s established its office and retail employment base.
The city says two-thirds of its growth potential over the next 40 years will be realized in the South Loop District, which it describes as home to the Mall of America. For the owner or buyer of a big-footprint building, that means the neighbors will keep changing. Large low-slope roofs, long parking-lot drainage runs and rooftop equipment serving several tenants are the parts that age quietly. Thermal imaging, which records surface temperature differences as a picture, can point to damp insulation under a roof that looks dry from above.
Normandale Lake: Class A offices in a changing market
The city's Normandale Lake District plan covers the area south of I-494, from East Bush Lake Road east to just beyond Stanley Road. It says the district contains one of the largest concentrations of Class A office space in the Twin Cities region. It also says a significant decline in the office development market, together with developer interest in housing, led to high-density residential projects in places once pictured as office towers.
Some sites once pictured as office towers now hold high-density housing, which puts different tenants, schedules and equipment demands in the same neighborhood. In an office tower or hotel, the parts that matter most are often the ones that rarely show: the central heating and cooling plant, the electrical gear and the building's outer skin. Those are also the parts where the temperature patterns on a thermal image can tell a buyer more than a walk-through.
Penn American: 160 acres built a generation or two ago
The Penn American District along American Boulevard is a different kind of place. A January 2014 city report said it covers about 160 acres, most of them developed 30 to 50 years earlier, with existing development dominated by retail, several auto dealerships, some offices and high-density housing. Counting forward from that report, most of the development is now roughly 40 to 60 years old.
The city says major redevelopment will occur there over the next two decades. That tends to leave older neighbors in the middle: a strip center or dealership that is still operating beside a site cleared for something new. Knowing the real condition of the older building, before a purchase, a refinance or a lease renewal, keeps the decision about the building rather than the area plans.
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Quick answers
Do large flat roofs on mall-size buildings need different attention?
They often do. Low-slope roofs can hold water, and moisture can spread through the insulation below without showing on the ceiling. Thermal imaging records temperature differences across a roof surface, which can point to wet insulation. The city's South Loop plan describes the area north of 86th Street as mostly large buildings with surface parking, so big roofs are part of the district's character.
How old is development in the Penn American area?
A January 2014 city report said most of the district's 160 acres were developed 30 to 50 years earlier. Counting forward from that report, most of the development is now roughly 40 to 60 years old. Roofs, mechanical equipment and parking lots at that age have often been replaced or are due for attention.
Why does South Loop redevelopment matter to a building owner today?
The city says two-thirds of its growth potential over the next 40 years will be realized in the South Loop District. Uses and neighbors around a property can change faster than the property itself. Having the building's condition written down today gives an owner, buyer or lender a fixed starting point before those changes arrive.
Sources
- City of Bloomington: South Loop District
- City of Bloomington: South Loop District Plan
- City of Bloomington: Normandale Lake District
- City of Bloomington: Normandale Lake District Plan Update (amended October 2025)
- City of Bloomington: Request for Council Action, Adopt Penn American District Plan (January 27, 2014)
- City of Bloomington: Penn American District Plan
- Mall of America: About
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