New Jersey's long-stalled American Dream Meadowlands shopping and entertaining project received a funding boost on Aug. 11 when a state board re-approved $390 million in tax breaks for the massive development.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which initially agreed to a $390 million tax incentive for American Dream in Nov. 2013, approved developer Triple Five Group's amended and expanded application at its meeting Tuesday. The tax breaks come after the New Jersey Local Finance Board voted in June to allow the Borough of East Rutherford to sell up to $675 million in bonds for the project on behalf of Triple Five, which replaced Xanadu as developer in 2013.
New construction funding for the development next to MetLife Stadium is estimated at $3.2 billion, according to a memo to the NJDEA from its president and chief operating officer, Timothy Lizura. The project is expected to include 2.3 million square-feet of leasable retail and restaurant space and a 346,100 square-foot amusement park that would include an indoor water park with completion expected in 2017, according to the memo. Construction first ground to a halt in 2009 after a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers missed loan payments after the former Wall Street giant filed for bankruptcy.
Officials for Triple Five Group didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the planned timetable for issuing bonds.
