SECAUCUS, NJ — Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli said this week he will sue Triple Five Group, the owners of American Dream mega-mall, because the mall owes his and surrounding towns millions of dollars.
"This is a prelude to suing. We want to sit down and talk to them and work something out," said Gonnelli. "If we don't get our money, we're going to sue them. No question about it."
Triple Five is privately owned by the Ghermezian family, a Canadian family that now owns the three biggest malls in North America: The West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, the Mall of America in Minnesota and American Dream in New Jersey.
The Ghermezians are native Iranians who emigrated to Canada on the eve of the Iranian revolution. They are currently planning to build a fourth mega mall, American Dream Miami.
Triple Five owes the town of Secaucus just under one million dollars, $966,666. The mall owes the borough of Carlstadt much more, $5 million. This is according to Gonnelli and Bob Ceberio, business administrator for the town of Carlstadt and the former executive director of the Meadowlands Commission (now the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority).
"It's's a strong possibly Carlstadt joins the lawsuit as well," Ceberio said this week. "We are wondering when we are going to get our money?"
The mall owes the money under the terms of something called the Municipal Assistance Program (MAP), which was first established in 2004 when the American Dream site was still called Xanadu. When Ceberio was in charge of the then-Meadowlands Commission, it established a non-negotiable condition: Whoever assumed ownership of the property would pay surrounding towns. The municipal grants were meant to offset the strain on infrastructure from the mall and sports complex, such as traffic on roadways and local police and fire departments responding to emergencies at the mall.
"As far as I know, when Triple 5 took over ownership of the mall they never tried to remove that condition," said Ceberio.
"Our Secaucus Police department has responded in the past when there's been emergencies in that mall," said Gonnelli. "One million is not a lot for us in terms of our total budget. But one million could buy us a new fire truck, a new police car. That's why all we're asking is for them to sit down and talk with us. They never respond."
In the past, the Secaucus Fire Department responded when there was a fire on the indoor ski slope at at the mall. Secaucus Police also responded when there was a shooting on the second floor of the mall in April 2022. The shooting was a dispute between two men; the victim survived.
The mall owes the eleven other towns in the Meadowlands — Little Ferry, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, North Arlington, Ridgefield, Rutherford, South Hackensack, Teterboro, Jersey City, Kearny and North Bergen — an estimated $387,500 each, said Ceberio.
Gonnelli has raised this issue before, saying in this 2025 news article that the mall owes Secaucus money.
The owners of Triple Five did not respond then, and they did not respond this week for this article.
Ceberio said Triple Five says they only have to pay the money if the mall reaches 100% occupancy.
He called that "ridiculous."
"Anyone who's ever gone to a mall knows there is no such thing as a mall being 100 percent occupied," he said. "And there is no such stipulation in the initial agreement."
"No mall in the world operates at 100 percent capacity," said Carlstadt Mayor Robert Zimmermann.
Zimmermann also called out the NJ Sports & Exposition Authority for failing to enforce the MAP-payments agreement. The NJSEA owns the land on which the mall sits.
"We are done waiting for the NJSEA to act in good faith. Our taxpayers are effectively being forced to subsidize a global attraction that refuses to honor its basic obligations," said Zimmermann.
As of Jan. 1, American Dream was 88 percent occupied with stores.
American Dream's finances do not appear healthy:
It was just this past June that the mall had its total appraised value reduced by more than $1 billion, dropping from $3.43 billion to $1.65 billion. The town of East Rutherford agreed to let Triple Five reduce the mall's appraised value so Triple Five would not have to pay back as much to investors who financed the mall's construction.
Also, Triple Five has failed to make several PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) payments it owes to the town of East Rutherford, and it also has missed several debt payments on its mortgage, according to past media reports. Triple Five put up Mall of America and the Canada mall as collateral to take out a loan for American Dream.
"OK, so maybe there are mitigating circumstances," said Ceberio. "So maybe it's not $5 million but at least acknowledge you owe us something. Lets sit down and talk."
Gonnelli was not nearly as sympathetic to any financial problems American Dream may or may not be having.
"American Dream is making millions and millions of dollars. The mall was packed for every World Cup game, every watch party they hosted and their parking lots were packed," fumed Gonnelli. "Everyone who went to World Cup games was parking there and walking over to the stadium. And they were charging $250 for parking there during the World Cup. They're making a ton of money, and they're not sharing that money with the towns."
"Anyone who's ever been to that mall sees that it's very much a thriving entity," agreed Ceberio. "They just opened a 3,000-seat venue for small concerts."
American Dream hosted an MMA fighting event at its new performing arts center in July, and French Montana is supposed to give a concert there this Saturday night.
"I would have sued them a long time ago," said Gonnelli. "Believe me when I tell you they're making a ton of money."
It cost about $5 billion in borrowed money to build American Dream. The state of New Jersey gave Triple Five millions of dollars to finish construction of American Dream. The Bergen Record has been keeping a record of interest payments on that debt that American Dream fails to pay:
Yet another interest payment missed on bonds to build American Dream mall (Bergen Record, Feb. 2025)
Secaucus Mayor Still Seeks $1 Million He Says American Dream Owes Town (Patch, 2025)
Owner Of American Dream Missed Two Mortgage Payments: Reports
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