Work is underway to create a large indoor playground inside a vacant Eden Prairie building once intended for an Amazon Fresh grocery store.
If all goes as planned, the tropical-themed business called Lava Island will open next to Chick-fil-A sometime early next fall, said Alexa Hubbard, Lava Island’s vice president of marketing.
City building permits for the $2.6 million project were issued April 30. The 41,000-square-foot building’s shell and parking lot have been complete for some time, but interior finishing is still underway.
The family-friendly indoor park will have trampolines, climbing walls, foam pits, ladders, slides, mazes, and other play structures, along with rooms for birthday parties and similar gatherings. Food and beverages will also be available.
Lava Island has operated a single business in Aurora, Colorado, since 2017 but is rapidly expanding across the country this year, going from one location to 10, Hubbard said. The Eden Prairie business will be its first in Minnesota.
Demographics are part of what attracted Lava Island to Eden Prairie. “We really serve families that have children 12 and under,” said Hubbard. “Eden Prairie is certainly that.”
As a destination business, however, Lava Island will likely draw from beyond Eden Prairie. The company has seen customers drive more than an hour to get to the Aurora business, according to Hubbard.
“Our mission with Lava Island Eden Prairie is to create a place where families and friends can escape, explore, and enjoy unparalleled fun in a tropically immersive environment,” said Celeste Henderson, founder and COO at Lava Island. “Our goal is to create a vibrant hub for the community that offers fun for kids of all ages – and kids at heart.”
Hubbard said the vacant Eden Prairie building also fits the bill because it has a high ceiling, necessary for Lava Island’s three-level jungle gym.
Under its current business model, Lava Island sells one-hour or all-day passes allowing families to use the playground. It also has a loyalty program in which customers earn points that can be redeemed for future visits, food, or other services.
When fully staffed, the location will employ around 60 people, ages 16 and up, Hubbard said.
Lava Island will occupy the space after construction of a grocery store was paused and the building was listed for sublease by Mid-America Real Estate-Minnesota as suitable for a big-box retailer.
Although neither Amazon nor Oppidan, the developer, has ever acknowledged that the “Flying Cloud Commons Grocery Store” referenced in city-approved plans was actually an Amazon Fresh store, its design matches those of other Amazon Fresh locations built elsewhere.
However, Amazon has indicated it is reassessing its grocery store initiative.
In a February 2023 call with investors, CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon would pause the expansion of its Fresh stores as it experiments with the few dozen locations it has already opened to “find a format that we think resonates with customers.”
Construction was suspended in 2022 on a half-dozen Twin Cities-area projects thought to be Amazon Fresh stores, including the one in Eden Prairie.
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