Non-Profit Files Suit, Claims American Dream Meadowlands Bond Deal Is 'An Illegal Shell Game'

A non-profit opposed to the issuance of $1.15 billion in bonds to help pay for construction of the American Dream Meadowlands project filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority — the state agency that last month approved issuance of the bonds.

The New Jersey Alliance for Fiscal Integrity contends that the bond agreement is “an illegal shell game.” The lawsuit asks the state Appellate Division to overturn the authority’s Aug. 25 vote to issue the bonds for the $3 billion project.

“In their haste to rush this through in the dog days of August when they thought nobody was paying attention, the NJSEA acted in violation of several state laws that would make the issuance of these bonds extremely problematic,” Bruno Tedeschi, a spokesman with the alliance said in a statement.

The authority agreed to issue the bonds if the Wisconsin Public Finance Authority purchases them and the bond buyers assume all the risk should the project fail.

The non-profit claims the authority violated state lawn by not disclosing the principal terms of the bonds, including their interest rates and maturity dates.

The authority also allegedly violated the Open Public Meetings Act by not giving “timely notice” of the emergency meeting at which the issuance of the bonds was approved.

The group claims that the authority violated an executive order requiring private bonds be sold through a competitive bidding process rather than a no-bid selection of the Wisconsin agency.

The bond deal is, "designed to dupe the taxpayers of two states into paying for the construction of a private mall for wealthy developers,” said Tedeschi. “In their haste to rush this through in the dog days of August when they thought nobody was paying attention, the NJSEA acted in violation of several state laws that would make the issuance of these bonds extremely problematic.”

Redeveloping the site has taken more than a decade and gone through two previous attempts, the most recent of which was the ill-fated Xanadu project. The project was supposed to be complete in 2005, but is now slated to open in mid-2018.

Triple Five, and local and state officials are billing American Dream Meadowlands as the family entertainment destination on the East Coast. Triple Five already owns The Mall of America in Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall in Canada.

Once complete, the 90-acre facility will have an indoor ski slope, aquarium, indoor waterpark, amusement park, performance halls, and a 4D movie theater.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Related: 'Most Expensive Retail Project On Earth' Coming To Meadowlands In 2017

Related: Dine-In, 4-D Cinema Coming To American Dream Project

Related: 12-Story Indoor Ski Park Planned For Meadowlands Mega Mall

Pictured: An artist's rendering of part of the inside of American Dream/Courtesy of Triple Five Group