Triple Five Group says the 3 million-square-foot first phase of its American Dream retail-entertainment center, in New Jersey, is set to open in the spring.
The pace of the project's construction has picked up noticeably, and “it’s going to be even bigger and better” than Mall of America, said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy during a press tour on Tuesday, according to New Jersey.com.
Entertainment features include an indoor ski slope
Work on the project has started and stopped through a series of ownership changes over the past decade. But visitors to the site this week saw evidence of some concrete progress as 1,600 construction workers went about their work. That workforce is to swell to about 3,000 this fall, for the building of some 450 stores and restaurants.
“There have been a lot of naysayers,” said Rick Sabato, president of the Bergen County Building & Construction Trades Council, speaking to the visitors, as reported in New Jersey.com. “Now we’re proving the naysayers wrong.”
The center offerings will comprise roughly 55 percent entertainment features and 45 percent retail elements, according to Triple Five. When completed, the project will support about 16,200 jobs at the center itself and an additional 7,000 in the surrounding towns, generating some $1.2 billion in wages in total.
"It's amazing how far along they've come in just a few months," East Rutherford Mayor James Cassella told New Jersey.com. "We're pleased to start to see the light at the end of the tunnel."
By Edmund Mander
Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT
