By CHARLES V. BAGLIMAY 31, 2017
A $1.1 billion bond offering to help complete construction of the American Dream mall in the New Jersey Meadowlands went forward this week, nine months after the sale was originally planned.
In the story of the mall’s creation, the delay was a minor speed bump. Thirteen years after it was first announced, the project is on its third developer and is being built in the face of growing doubts about the viability of shopping malls and retail stores across the country. The associated-risks section of the bond offering runs to 38 pages.
But the current developer, Triple Five Group, contends that American Dream’s blend of retail stores and entertainment venues — the sprawling complex is to include a six-acre indoor water park, a Ferris wheel, movie theaters and an indoor amusement park, as well as Saks Fifth Avenue, Hermès, Toys “R” Us and Old Navy — is the future and the “complete opposite of a traditional mall.”
