Homewood Suites Opens at Southdale Center

By Gail Kalinoski

Homewood Suites by Hilton Edina Minneapolis

A joint venture between Noble Investment Group and Simon has opened Homewood Suites by Hilton Edina Minneapolis, a 146-key hotel at the Southdale Center mixed-use complex in Edina, Minn.

The all-suite property is close to the corporate headquarters of major employers, including Best Buy, Dairy Queen, United Health, General Mills and Regis Corp. Several well-known hospitals such as Methodist Hospital and Fairview Hospital are also nearby. The site is less than 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

“Being an important piece of Southdale Center’s mixed-use complex, as well as being close to the headquarters of numerous corporations, makes this location an excellent value for both the business and leisure traveler with amenities to help them feel at home whether for a night or extended stay,” Scott Eisenach, the hotel’s general manager, said in a prepared statement.

The hotel is one of many recent additions completed or planned at the Southdale Center, the nation’s first indoor regional shopping mall. Macy’s anchors the center, which opened in 1956 and includes 120 specialty stores, a full-service movie theater and a wide variety of dining options. Simon, the owner and operator of the property, is adding Shake Shack this fall and popular home furnishing retailer RH next year. Future plans include the opening of a three-story Life Time athletic resort featuring healthy lifestyle programs, entertainment, a rooftop pool and beach club, Life Time Work, shared workspaces, and Life Time Sport, an organized pick-up play complex. In 2015, One Southdale Place, a 232-unit luxury apartment development opened at the site.

“The opening of this terrific hotel represents the latest phase of our redevelopment of the Southdale mall complex,” Michael McCarty, chief operating officer of Simon Malls, said in a prepared statement. “Our ‘densification’ program has been very successful and we are excited about future development at this historic property.”

Hotel amenities

The hotel will be managed by Concord Hospitality. It features studio and one-bedroom suites each with separate living and sleeping areas and a fully-equipped kitchen. The hotel offers more than 600 square feet of multi-function meeting space, a 24-hour business center, fitness center, heated indoor pool, a lobby bar and outdoor courtyard with fire pit and grill. Complimentary amenities include Wi-Fi, hot breakfast and drinks and snacks at a nightly evening social Monday through Thursday. The site also has a 24-Suite Shop with additional food and drink options.

A Hilton hotel, the Homewood Suites brand now has nearly 450 locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In May, the 108-key Homewood Suites by Hilton Raleigh Cary 1-40 opened in Cary, N.C.

Last week, Simon announced it was teaming up with Macerich to co-develop and jointly lease Los Angeles Premium Outlets in Carson, Calif. The 566,000-square-foot retail center is expected to open in fall 2021. Simon recently announced it was spending about $4 billion at its various retail properties to offer more mixed-use, experiential-oriented centers.

Noble, an investment firm that specializes in upscale select service and extended-stay hotels affiliated with Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and Intercontinental, has had a busy summer. In July, Noble sold the 481-key, full-service Hyatt Regency Milwaukee to Cambridge Landmark for a reported $37.3 million. Noble had owned the hotel since 2007.

In June, Noble acquired Westin Reston Heights, a 191-key full-service hotel in the Washington, D.C., area. Located in Reston, Va., the hotel is 10 minutes from Dulles International Airport and within walking distance of the future Reston Town Center Metrorail Station, which is expected to be completed next year.

Image courtesy of Noble Investment Group