Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's first connected hotel close to opening

The InterContinental at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has a lot to take in.

Curved glass walls with blue lights that mimic the waves of Minnesota lakes. A slightly angled roofline that resembles a wing. Curated art in each of its guest rooms. But it's the sight of the planes people will remember.

"It's all about the view," Nina Bouten, interior designer of the new hotel, said Monday looking out at the runways from a bar on the 12th floor, the highest.

The InterContinental, which will open July 14 with rooms available in August, is the first hotel to be connected to the airport since it was built nearly a century ago. It connects through a skyway to Concourse C in Terminal 1. A new TSA screening location within the hotel's skyway connection allows guests to be checked in with carry-on bags.

While the hotel's main clientele will be overnight business travelers, others who want to relax for a short time or meet friends who live in the area during a layover will also appreciate the space, said Sally Ableitner, director of sales and marketing for Graves Hospitality.

"You do not need to have a boarding pass in order to come to this hotel," Ableitner said. "We really want this to be a place for people to meet."

Visitors will have free access to the Altitude bar and the hotel's two signature restaurants on the first floor, the French-inspired La Voya and the Bradstreet Craftshouse, a reincarnation of the popular restaurant that used to be in the Graves 601 Hotel in Minneapolis. A $30 day pass can be bought for access to the fitness room and showers as well as the thermal pool and sauna of Elevations Spa, which also offers traditional spa services. Complimentary parking is available for those who visit the restaurants or spa.

Graves, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, developed the hotel with the Boston-based real estate investment firm Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. It is not connected to the InterContinental hotel brand. The hotel was designed by RSP Architects and built by PCL Construction.

The hotel's other amenities include a large ballroom, several meeting rooms, a lobby coffee shop, and a guest-only lounge. Construction started in 2016, took about 20 months and cost about $91 million.

Builders had to make sure the sound from the planes didn't carry into the hotel, so they used a combination of vertical glass with horizontal bands of alternate materials to minimize noise.

There are still a lot of the finishing touches to do as hotel staff members rush to be ready by the opening date. Throughout many parts of the hotel Monday, it was hard to hear anything above the drilling, hammering and other construction noise as workers completed projects. Hotel staffers were busy in training sessions.

Along with the bar on the top floor, there are also two luxury suites. The larger of the two, the Wingspan suite, has more than 1,800 square feet and 13-foot high ceilings. The price is north of $3,000 a night. Standard guest rooms start about $289 a night.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495

Twitter: @nicolenorfleet