American Dream Meadowlands To Generate $1.2B In Income, 16K Jobs

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — American Dream Meadowlands is expected to generate $1.2 billion in income and provide 16,000 jobs when it opens in the spring.

Governor Phil Murphy Tuesday touted the project and honored the thousands of laborers who are working to bring the $5 billion project to fruition more than a decade after it was first announced as coming to the Meadowlands.

"A complex project like American Dream creates many jobs in many areas — long-term jobs that provide families with the opportunity to gain their own foothold in the economy and help it grow," Murphy said. "Every group affiliated with this project can be proud of the part they have played in the reformation and rise of this vital economic investment in the Garden State.”

More than $2 billion worth of new construction has been built on the site to date and more than 23,000 people will have worked on the construction, officials said.

Another 6,700 jobs in the surrounding communities are expected to be brought to the area once developer and owner Triple Five completes work on the 91-acre campus. It is expected to generate $148 million in tax revenue for the state.

Triple Five's owner, the Ghermezian family, is developing the project into something akin to two properties it already owns: The Mall of America and the West Edmonton Mall.

"Thank you for picking the great state of New Jersey," Murphy said to the Ghermezian family. "For many this American Dream has been a dream long deferred, but thanks to the work of Triple Five, local leaders, and laborers, it is a dream finally coming to fruition."

Murphy and others thanked the laborers gathered on site Tuesday for their hard work in getting the project built.

Don Ghermezian, Triple's Five president, agreed.

"This unprecedented project will create tens of thousands of jobs, bring millions of tourists and billions of dollars in economic growth annually to Bergen County and the State of New Jersey, and would simply not be possible without the incredible contributions and effort of these men and women,” Ghermezian said.

Photo: Construction continues on the DreamWorks-themed water park Nickelodeon Universe theme park. (Courtesy of American Dream Meadowlands)

American Dream is shaping up to be a one-of-a-kind, $5 billion destination with several "firsts" coming to New Jersey and the East Coast, including:

• The world's first MUNCHIES food hall by Vice. The 38,000 square-foot hall will have 18 vendors and "will be a platform for creative and diverse culinary talent," Vice co-founder John Martin said.
• The first Sea Life Aquarium in New Jersey with a walk-through, saltwater tunnel
• The first indoor ski and snowboard park in the Western Hemisphere with an 800-foot high ski slope and an ice-climbing wall.
• The first KidZania on the East Coast where kids can go to "work" and earn money they can then spend
• Two world-record rollercoasters are coming to the Nickelodeon Universe theme park.

Fifteen retailers have been confirmed to be there, including: Saks Fifth Avenue, H&M, Lord & Taylor, Banana Republic, and Microsoft.

There will also be:

• A movie theater that will allow people to smell scents and experience movement related to the movie they are watching.
• An observation wheel that's nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty. It will have 26 climate-controlled gondolas and will take about 25 minutes to make one revolution.
• An NHL regulation-sized ice skating rink will have recreational hockey and figure skating programs. The New York Rangers and Islanders and New Jersey Devils will be there as well.
• 20,000 square feet of health, wellness, beauty, and spa facilities
• An 800-room luxury hotel connected to convention space and restaurants
• An international tourism center focusing on visitors from China, South America, the Middle East, and Russia

Between 30 and 40 million people are expected to visit American Dream Meadowlands within its first year of opening.

American Dream was originally slated to open in 2017. Then last summer Triple Five pushed back the completion date because it had difficulty securing the $1.1 billion in financing. It worked with Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan to secure $1.6 billion in financing in 2017.

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Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Lead photo: An artists' rendering of what American Dream Meadowlands will look like when completed. (Courtesy of Triple Five)

Second photo: A worker stands and looks at the inside of American Dream Meadowlands, the inside of which remains unfinished. (New Jersey Governor's Office)