Mall of America water park targets December approvals.

Byline: William Morris

A final redevelopment agreement for the Mall of America's new water park could be up for approval by the end of the year.

That's the goal of the many public and private entities involved in the complex deal to finance and operate the new 250,000-square-foot attraction. On Tuesday, the project is expected take another step forward as the Bloomington Port Authority adopts a nonprofit agreement spelling out the responsibilities of the city, mall owners Triple Five Group, and Louisiana nonprofit Provident Resources Group in the $260 million project.

Port Authority Administrator Schane Rudlang said the partners are still working through due diligence as they formalize their agreement to build the new amenity on a Triple Five-owned parking lot immediately east of the main mall.

"The feasibility is continuing to be studied and scrutinized as it has been for the last year or so, and we hope to bring back a project to the Council and Port Authority that's provable in December," he said in an interview.

The complex public-private partnership is the result of the project's financing. Triple Five initially proposed for the city to finance and own the new facility, hoping to take advantage of better interest rates available for municipal bonds. The parties later brought in Provident, which seeks to help governments "in providing facilities and services to their citizens," to build and operate the water park. The city remains involved, however, and will lease the land from Triple Five before subleasing it to Provident, because the bonds for the project will be backed by the promise of future taxes if the park underperforms.

"The city is a pass-through entity for some taxes that are allowed to...