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American Dream’s elusive promise

This is the holiday season, a time to suspend disbelief. Still, we are cautious about getting too excited that the American Dream entertainment complex is on track to open in the fall of 2018.

Don Ghermezian, one of the principals at Triple Five, the developer of American Dream, told Record Staff Writer Joan Verdon this week that structural steel is on the way and that construction will aggressively restart in the new year. A snappy video which can be found on northjersey.com shows the new images for the complex. The much-maligned exterior that has been compared to stacked shipping containers is gone. In its place are open spaces, exterior glass walls and high-end retail stores.

If all this comes to pass, it will look a darned-sight better than it does now. The problem is we have been here before. New Jersey governors and developers have come and gone and American Dream, once-called Xanadu, is still unfinished. Until the latest $1.15 billion public bond offering happens – it has been delayed because of a softness in the bond market – we are just not sure the thing too big to fail will be completed.

Billions of dollars have been sunk into this project which has morphed into a mixed-use complex, with a water park, ski slope and expanded retail. It could be a catalyst for more development around the Meadowlands. Certainly, it will help bring in tourists who may stay in area hotels. Tax revenue from local hotels is not meeting expectations to fully replace the funding Meadowlands' municipalities once received from a now-abandoned shared tax system, so tourist dollars are needed.

We want to believe locals and tourists will want to play and shop at American Dream, but the retail landscape around the Meadowlands has changed since the project was first proposed. Lower Manhattan has become a shopping destination in its own right between the Westfield mall inside the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $4 billion transportation hub and the adjacent Brookfield Place mall. Hudson Yards is another Manhattan destination moving toward completion. So there will be plenty of competition for American Dream’s retail.

Granted no other destination will have indoor skiing or swimming, but the scale of American Dream will require an equally grandiose flow of shoppers and tourists. It is too late in the game to question if the original Xanadu was ever a good idea or if American Dream is the best option for the site. American Dream is the only option for the site. It must be completed.

Ghermezian told The Record, “Any project of this magnitude takes time.” Given the years of missed completion dates, that statement is a bit of understatement. But we hope this time the ending truly is in sight. In the spirit of the season, we want to believe.

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http://www.northjersey.com/story/opi...mise/95101430/