After the North Stars moved to Dallas, Texas in 1993 and became the Dallas Stars, the Met Center was demolished on December 13, 1994 in a series of three controlled implosions. The series of implosions was required after the initial detonation (which was intended to be the only one) failed spectacularly to bring down the building on live television. The NHL returned to Minnesota in 2000 when the expansion Minnesota Wild began play at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Meanwhile, the Harlem Globetrotters, an annual visitor to the Met Center, moved on, as had a large portion of Met Center's concert business, to Target Center.
For several years after the arena was demolished, the property served as an overflow lot for the Mall of America. In 2004, an IKEA store opened on the west end of the property, and the new American Boulevard was rerouted through the east end of the property. The remainder of the site is planned long-term to become the site of Mall of America Phase II, of which the IKEA would be an anchor store.
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