The American Dream megamall is finally opening after more than 2 decades. Here's how the 3 million-square-foot complex went from an idea to a reality.
The story of the megamall began in 1996 with an idea. The Mills Corporation proposed a plan for a 2.1 million-square-foot shopping center in the Meadowlands area in New Jersey.
In the early 2000s, mall developers clashed with environmentalists who wished to preserve the ecology of the New Jersey wetlands in the proposed site of the complex.
Source: The New York Times
Developers found a new site for the complex on already-developed land in East Rutherford. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owned the Meadowlands Sports Complex, asked for proposals to redevelop a large region of land in June 2002.
Source: CNBC, Teterboro Online, NorthJersey.com
A redevelopment agreement between The Mills Corporation and the Mack-Cali Realty Corporation with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority was signed in 2003 to redevelop the existing Continental Airlines Arena site and to create a 4.76 million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex.
Source: Business Wire
The project was named Xanadu after the Mills Corporation’s Madrid shopping mall of the same name. Xanadu was also a reference to the estate of Charles Foster Kane in the 1941 film “Citizen Kane.”
Source: CNBC, Business Wire
The project was expected to include the nation's first indoor alpine ski resort as well as a minor-league baseball stadium and an extreme sports park.
Source: Business Wire
It would also feature a sports viewing area with a large screen.
Developers broke ground for Meadowlands Xanadu in 2004. "Meadowlands Xanadu is well on its way to becoming a reality," said Mills' chairman and CEO Laurence C. Siegel at the time. Officials said the center could open by the spring of 2007.
Source: TMCnet.com, CNBC
In 2006, real estate investment firm Colony Capital said it would take over the project and the expected opening date was pushed to 2008.
Source: CNBC
In 2008, it was announced that Xanadu would include an observational Ferris wheel akin to the London Eye, a feature that residents feared would be a distracting and unseemly addition to their town.
In 2008, people were criticizing the mega mall for its multicolored, eye-popping exterior. The opening was once again pushed back, this time until the summer of 2009.
Source: The New York Times, CNBC
The 2008 financial crisis hit Xanadu hard. Xanadu Mezz Holdings was a construction lender for the project and a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy in September of 2008. The complex was now in need of financing to the tune of about $22.9 million and the opening was delayed once again.
Source: CNBC, The New York Times
During the construction stoppage, part of the Xanadu roof was destroyed in February of 2011 after heavy snowfall.
Source: CNBC
In March of 2011, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called the complex “the ugliest damn building in New Jersey, and maybe America."
Source: The New York Times
That same year, Triple Five Group, which owns the massive Mall of America in Minnesota, took over the project, which was renamed American Dream. A new opening was set for 2013.
Source: Reuters
The Ghermezian family, which runs Triple Five Group, announced a revamped plan for the complex, which included investing another $1 billion into the project as well as adding as an indoor water park.
Source: CNBC
A new opening date was slated for 2014. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said in a 2011 presentation with the Ghermezian family that 35,000 jobs were expected to be created from the project.
Source: CNBC
In 2012, DreamWorks Animation announced a partnership with American Dream to bring a water park to the complex.
Source: PR Newswire, CNBC
That same year, the New York Giants and New York Jets filed a lawsuit against the complex, maintaining that the increased traffic would negatively impact their games held at the MetLife Stadium nearby. Triple Five Group countersued, but both parties dropped the suits in 2014.
Source: The New York Times, NJ.com
In 2013, construction resumed and the opening was once again pushed off to accommodate for the extra time it would take to build the theme park.
Source: CNBC
The complex was redesigned with a white exterior, as opposed to the multicolored panels which had characterized the building for years.
Source: CNBC
Triple Five Group and Nickelodeon announced in September of 2016 that they would bring Nickelodeon Universe, the largest indoor theme park in the Western Hemisphere, to the complex. A new opening was slated for the fall of 2018.
Source: PR Newswire, The New York Times
In 2017, Triple Five Group secured $1.67 billion in construction loans. A new opening date was slated for the spring of 2019.
Source: The New York Times, Re-NJ.com
The opening was pushed back again until October 25 was set as the official opening date of phase one of American Dream, which would include the opening of Nickelodeon Universe, the DreamWorks Water Park, and an ice-skating rink. The rest of the complex is set to open in stages through March of 2020.
Source: CNBC, Global Newswire
“We know that the community has been eagerly awaiting the launch of this incredible global destination,” said Don Ghermezian, president of American Dream, in a press release. “We have a one‐of‐a‐kind property that will reshape the way people think about entertainment, theme parks, and shopping and we are so excited."
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