The Metropolitan Airports Commission board passed a staff recommended hotel that will be built on the inbound roadway to Terminal 1 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International (MSP).
The vote was unanimous, says airport Spokesman Patrick Hogan.
Graves Hospitality Corp. will be the developer and manager of the facility, and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. is the company’s equity partner.
Graves is proposing a nine-story, 300-unit hotel with a spa, restaurant, observation deck bar and parking ramp. It will be connected to the airport by skyway. Federal Aviation Administration approval is necessary for the project’s height.
“The MAC’s vision for the hotel … is a visually captivating structure providing exemplary, reliable hospitality services to the MSP airport community,” wrote Eric Johnson, director of commercial management and airline affairs in a memo last month to the MAC’s Management and Operations Committee. “The hotel’s visual message and personality needs to communicate and complement the spirit and vision of MSP, ‘providing the best airport experience in North America.’”
The hotel is expected to open before the city of Minneapolis hosts the Super Bowl in 2018.
