Triple Five, owned by Edmonton’s Ghermezian family, scrapped the Xanadu name and veered from the retail-heavy plan, adopting the entertainment component from two of its properties, the Mall of America in Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall. In May 2011, it projected American Dream would open in 2013 and would attract 55 million visitors a year. Since then, the company has scaled back its forecast to 40 million visitors.
Oh well...
The company took over the failed Xanadu project in 2010 and workers finally returned to the site this summer after signing a Project Labor Agreement in April. The opening date for American Dream Meadowlands, now estimated at fall 2016, no longer sounds unrealistic.
“I’m not a betting man, but I would bet on it,” Jeff Sheckter, Triple Five’s executive vice president, said in July.
Fool me once, don't get fooled again, two months later...Wait, didn't we already hear this?
EAST RUTHEFORD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — After 12 years of financial troubles and delays, the American Dream megamall and entertainment center in the Meadowlands could finally open in fall 2016.Time keeps on slipping, slipping...
The target date was announced by the mammoth complex’s developer, Triple Five, WCBS 880’s Sean Adams reported.
Initially proposed in 2003, the project's first developer went bankrupt and the second was forced to surrender control after losing financing. After sitting idle for two years, a third developer, the Triple Five, was brought in to complete construction in 2011.
The developer now claims that the American Dream Meadowlands mall will be completed in 2017 — with one caveat: They'll need $1 billion in bonds to be sold by government entities to provide the remainder of the financing required to complete the project.
For realsie this time, pinkie swear.
The developer expects to finish American Dream in summer 2018.