Tag: Xanadu

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After transforming the region, Hartz is looking beyond N.J.

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After transforming the region, Hartz is looking beyond N.J.

DECEMBER 15, 2014, 10:17 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014, 10:31 PM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Soggy marshes don’t usually provide a good foundation for construction, but in the past half century, Hartz Mountain Industries Inc. has created a multibillion-dollar real estate empire in North Jersey’s Meadowlands, transforming the region. Now the Secaucus-based company is in the final stages of a tumultuous shift that has taken it down the East Coast and as far west as Seattle.

Hartz, one of the largest privately owned real estate companies in the nation — with about 38 million square feet of properties — is diversifying and expanding into the red-hot industrial and multifamily residential real estate markets. The company has “a billion-dollar pipeline” for projects under development or planned, Hartz Managing Director Gus Milano said at a conference in September.

Major changes are taking place within the company as well. This month, sources said Milano, 61, who helped steer Hartz into new markets, will become the company’s president and chief operating officer next year. Emanuel “Manny” Stern, 51, will relinquish those titles to Milano and become vice chairman. The company declined to comment on the changes, but real estate industry insiders predict Stern will continue to run the evolving company, in close counsel with Milano.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/after-transforming-the-region-hartz-is-looking-beyond-n-j-1.1154964

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Report of Izod Center deal was ‘error,’ American Dream developers say

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Report of Izod Center deal was ‘error,’ American Dream developers say

DECEMBER 9, 2014    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2014, 6:40 PM
BY JOHN BRENNAN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

American Dream Meadowlands developer Triple Five, which has been touting scores of leases and commitments to the 2.9 million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex, on Tuesday backed away from a claim about taking over the adjacent Izod Center.

The four-page “Monthly Status Update” distributed to a number of real estate brokers at a shopping center conference in New York this week refers to an intention to “Re-brand Izod Center to American Dream Center in partnership with the owners of Barclays Center & Live Nation.”

But the 33-year-old arena is owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, and agency President Wayne Hasenbalg said “that decision hasn’t been made, and we have no conversations with [Triple Five] about that. We are the entity that would decide to whom we turned over operations.”

Alan Marcus, a spokesman for Triple Five, said the arena notice was in error, but said he could not explain how it ended up in the status update. The update, distributed to many attendees at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention at the Javits Center, which ended Tuesday, also listed FAO Schwarz, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor and scores of other retailers.

“The only thing that would be accurate to say is that should Izod become available for lease, purchase or otherwise, we would undoubtedly participate in any privatization process, given our commitment to expanding entertainment opportunities in conjunction with American Dream,” Marcus said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/report-of-izod-center-deal-was-error-american-dream-developers-say-1.1149225

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Retail giants lining up, American Dream says

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Retail giants lining up, American Dream says

DECEMBER 7, 2014, 11:49 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014, 11:55 PM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

FAO Schwarz will leave its iconic Manhattan location for the Meadowlands, Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor department stores will anchor a collection of luxury boutiques, and Cirque du Soleil will establish a permanent theater for Las Vegas-style shows at the American Dream project, according to information the developer of the long-delayed project is circulating as it holds meetings this week to woo retail tenants.

Triple Five, the developer of the project, is telling prospective tenants that more than 50 major retailers, including such mall mainstays as Victoria’s Secret and Gap, have committed to renting space at American Dream, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016. More than a dozen restaurants and a permanent Cirque du Soleil theater are also committed, according to a 67-page leasing brochure and the project’s monthly status update for November.

While a developer’s promotional materials about prospective tenants should be viewed skeptically until the project’s opening day, the list of tenants Triple Five has lined up shows that parts of the American Dream will compete directly with North Jersey’s existing malls for tenants.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/retail-giants-lining-up-american-dream-says-1.1148277

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No Casinos for Bergen for Now

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Xanadu remains a monument to greedy stupidity

No Casinos for Bergen for Now 

Sweeney says Atlantic City should keep Casino monopoly for now

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has ruled out a casino in the Meadowlands for now,The Record reports.

Speaking in Atlantic City today, the powerful South Jersey Democrat said suggestions by other legislators that the time was right to start looking into the feasibility of a casino anywhere other than Atlantic City was harmful to that city’s ability to attract investors, the newspaper reported.

“Listen, as long as I’m alive and I’m the Senate president, we’re not moving [such bills],” the paper quoted Sweeney (D-Gloucester) as saying. “I made a deal, and my word is good. We’ll talk about it after the five years. That’s when we would start having a discussion” about whether casino gambling can take place elsewhere than in Atlantic City.

Sweeney was among several elected officials at a news conference during which they voiced strong support to New Jersey’s ’s bid to overturn a federal law that has allowed just casinos in Nevada to accept bets on sporting events. (Khavkine/Star-Ledger)

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/sweeney_says_atlantic_city_should_keep_casino_monopoly_for_now.html#incart_river

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“Jim” McGreevey’s Xanadu agreement relies on plan for improved traffic access to and from Meadowlands

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“Jim” McGreevey’s Xanadu agreement relies on plan for improved traffic access to and from Meadowlands

MARCH 14, 2014, 7:04 PM
BY JOHN BRENNAN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

NJ Transit and the state Turnpike Authority have agreed to improve access to and from the Meadowlands Sports Complex as part of the deal reached earlier this week between the Giants and Jets and Triple Five, the developer of the American Dream project.

The agreement — reached as a settlement of the legal dispute between the teams and the developer over the traffic impact of Triple Five’s plan to add indoor water and amusement parks to the site — does not limit the hours the entertainment and retail complex can be open on game days and provides no compensation to the teams.

Rather, it relies on a comprehensive transportation plan involving state agencies, Triple Five and the teams to resolve the dispute, which at times had prompted the National Football League franchises to warn of a traffic “nightmare” if Triple Five was allowed to open on game days at hours when fans were coming and going.

When it became public this week, the agreement was hailed by officials as a step that would allow for work to resume at the project site, which has sat idle since 2009 when it was known as Xanadu. Indeed, Governor Christie, who has been a champion of Triple Five’s American Dream plan as an engine for economic development, predicted construction would begin right away, now that the teams and the company have made peace.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/american-dream-agreement-relies-on-plan-for-improved-traffic-access-to-and-from-meadowlands-1.741616#sthash.LBaF7pEN.dpuf

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Lawmakers joining call for casino in Bergen County

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Lawmakers joining call for casino in Bergen County
SUNDAY MARCH 2, 2014, 10:43 PM
BY  JOHN BRENNAN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

New Jersey, long a national pioneer in legal betting, has tried a host of new concepts in recent years to try to reverse the erosion of its onetime gambling dominance.

The downward trend has been most evident in Atlantic City, where casino revenues are off more than 40 percent from the 2006 peak of $5 billion — a decline that has continued despite the recent launch of online betting on casino games.

Now a growing chorus of state leaders is calling for New Jersey to go “all in” once again — with casino-style gambling at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

“Forget all this online slots, online lottery and all that — let’s just put slot machines in at the Meadowlands and get it over with,” said state Sen. Richard Codey, D-Essex, whose sponsorship of bills backing the Atlantic City casino industry dates to the industry’s origin in the late 1970s. “We need to stop trying to put Band-Aids on a gunshot wound to the head. Let’s accept the fact that Atlantic City’s problem is ‘location, location, location’ and move on from that.”

State Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, called other steps under consideration — including plans announced last week to increase the jackpots at the casinos — “fringe elements” that are unlikely to make a major difference in a $2 billion decline that has left state tax revenues with a nearly $200 million shortfall.

“The only way to maximize gambling revenues in the state is to have a high-class casino in the Meadowlands,” Sarlo said.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/Lawmakers_joining_call_for_casino_in_Bergen_County.html#sthash.QIGljN48.dpuf

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Xanadu : A monument to NJ greedy self serving politicians ?

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called the ugliest building ever built Xanadu

Xanadu : A monument to NJ greedy self serving politicians ?

Empty shell of American Dream, MetLife Stadium’s ugly neighbor, still awaits makeover
Saturday February 1, 2014, 11:36 PM
BY  CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER
The Record

When Marianne Krause goes to a concert in another city, she keeps an eye out for beautiful buildings nearby. But when millions of people look to East Rutherford this weekend to watch the Super Bowl, Krause hopes they keep their eyes locked firmly on the game.

That’s because right next door to MetLife Stadium sits a gigantic, empty, multicolored mall once known as Xanadu, the long-dormant retail and entertainment project that Governor Christie once called one of the ugliest buildings in America.

The fewer people who notice it, Krause figures, the better.

“I’m embarrassed by it, and I think the state will be embarrassed by it,” said Krause, 29, of East Rutherford. “It’s really ugly.”

When developers originally proposed building a megamall in the Meadowlands in 2003, they envisioned a completion date sometime in 2006. In the years since, the project now called American Dream has blown through two developers, one name change and $2 billion. Across the parking lot, one stadium was razed and a new one was built.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/eastrutherford/Empty_shell_of_American_Dream_MetLife_Stadiums_ugly_neighbor_still_awaits_makeover.html#sthash.Kuqa2GDj.dpuf

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Stuck with McGreevey’s White Elephant Christie: ‘Disappointed’ in Giants, Jets over suit vs. American Dream “Xanadu” expansion

xanadu theridgewooodblog.net

Stuck with McGreevey’s White Elephant Christie: ‘Disappointed’ in Giants, Jets over suit vs. American Dream “Xanadu” expansion

Governor Christie on Tuesday expressed his displeasure with the recent filing of a lawsuit by the Giants and Jets to try to stop a planned expansion of the American Dream Meadowlands project.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/Christie_says_hes_disappointed_in_Giants_Jets_for_filing_suit_to_stop_American_Dream_expansion.html