SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015, 1:20 AM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Will American Dream Meadowlands be a nightmare for North Jersey malls?
With the recent news that the long-delayed shopping and entertainment complex had signed Hermes as a tenant and lured the luxury brand away from The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack, American Dream is looking more like a reality.
But retail experts are betting the existing malls in Bergen and Passaic counties will be able to hold their own against the untested newcomer. While North Jersey shopping centers may have to evolve, they said, there is enough spending power in the region to withstand competition from a new project, even one that claims it will be unlike any other mall.
North Jersey shopping centers — particularly top performers Westfield Garden State Plaza and The Outlets at Bergen Town Center, both in Paramus, and Willowbrook Mall in Wayne — have an advantage as known revenue producers, unlike a project that was stalled for more than a decade.
The developers of American Dream have said since taking over in 2011 that their project — with an indoor water park, amusement rides, ice rink and concert hall — is so different that it won’t compete with, or steal tenants, from traditional North Jersey malls, and that it will draw visitors from all over the world, rather than just New Jersey. However, the news that Hermes is leaving Hackensack for the Meadowlands raises the question of whether the the area’s malls should be concerned.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/dream-rivalry-brewing-1.1419585
