American Dream (shopping mall)

About

American Dream is a super-regional shopping mall and entertainment complex in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and is the second largest mall in the United States behind the Mall of America. Its four opening stages occurred on October 25, 2019; December 5, 2019; October 1, 2020; and September 17, 2021.

The project was first proposed in February 2003 by Mills Corporation as the Meadowlands Xanadu, with construction beginning in September 2004. The company's previous proposal on a separate site, Meadowlands Mills, was never developed due to legal oppositions regarding environmental concerns. In January 2007, the project was taken over by Colony Capital Acquisitions LLC after Mills started financially struggling and began an acquisition by Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. In May 2009, construction stalled due to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Triple Five Group announced intent to take over the mall in May 2011, and on July 31, 2013, officially gained control of the mall and the surrounding site. Following a series of ownership changes, financing issues, construction delays, and legal challenges, construction stopped again in December 2016.