Not exactly packing them in.
Screenshot: YouTube, 6/6/20212
Headline: New York, 6/9/2022
The second-largest mall in the country is in trouble after Triple Five, the developer and third owner of East Rutherford, New Jersey’s American Dream, failed to make a payment on an $800 million bond for the property this week. As of June 16, the 3 million-square-foot megamall in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium, with its indoor ski slope, water park, and skating rink, will officially be in default, with a hefty bailout needed to save it.
This is the latest in a trail of bad financial decisions as long as the walk from Saks to the Nickelodeon roller coaster. In 2019, the mall made its grand debut over a decade late with a vision similar to Triple Five’s crown jewel, the Mall of America in Minneapolis. The idea was to make it just as gloriously over the top. (“A one‐of‐a‐kind property that will reshape the way people think about entertainment, theme parks, and shopping,” the press release read at the time. Though it wasn’t “tacky enough,” Curbed’s Justin Davidson wrote in 2021.) But the ribbon had barely been cut on the first phase of its opening when the mall was temporarily shuttered by the pandemic a few months later. Boosters touted the mall’s size as ideal for COVID-era shopping — “Because we’re three million square feet, everyone is naturally socially distant,” CEO Mark Ghermezian told CNBC in November 2020 — but that kind of turnout never materialized, as Bloomberg reported in February.
Google search
Homepage
That dang coronavirus
American Dream Mall Closing Due To Coronavirus Concerns. (Forbes, 2/13/2020)
The mall had planned to host a preview opening of the Dreamworks Water Park and some of the first retail stores to open at the mall on Thursday, March 19. The water park was opened to the public temporarily last weekend for advance “sneak peak” admissions.
3/12/2020 update, 'When it comes to shit luck, American Dream Mall has it by the truckloads", starts here.
Sorta like Wall Street yesterday!
N.J. Mega-Mall Tests Virus Fears With Shops, Water Park Opening. (Bloomberg, 3/11/2020)
After two decades of false starts and setbacks, the grand opening of the New Jersey mall’s hundreds of retail stores, restaurants and DreamWorks water park is set to take place March 19.
But the ribbon cutting comes as the deadly coronavirus spreads through the U.S., causing New Jersey’s first fatality, and a growing number of Americans are avoiding crowded spaces.
The outbreak is the latest hurdle for the $5 billion complex next to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. These have included developers pulling out, a partially collapsed roof, funding shortfalls, delayed opening dates and the loss of two high-profile tenants to bankruptcy months before it was slated to debut.
Original 2/6/2020 post, "New Jersey news: Is American Dream Mall a nightmare in the making", starts here.
Welcome to the Era of the Post-Shopping Mall. (The New York Times, 12/27/2019)
After 15 years in development, the project’s attractions are finally lighting up one by one, connected by networks of vast, unfilled corridors. In addition to Big Snow, there is a National Hockey League-sized ice rink, a Nickelodeon Universe theme park, and a dusting of retail: a Big Snow ski shop, an IT’SUGAR candy department store and a Whoopi Goldberg-themed pop-up shop selling her collections of ugly holiday sweaters and chic tunics. Teased future reveals include a DreamWorks water park, a Legoland, a Vice-branded “Munchies” food hall, a KidZania play land featuring a full commercial airliner and a field hopping with live rabbits.
Related post:
New Jersey news: Phillipsburg Mall death watch. (1/29/2020)
No comments:
Post a Comment