Xanadu项目于2003年启动，旨在为新泽西州草地群岛增加一个主要的零售中心，从未被认为是花园品种购物中心。

But New Jerseyans and visitors driving the N.J. Turnpike got a sense of what it wasn’t supposed to be in what it had become—an odd multicolored warehouse-like structure that stayed unfinished for years amid owner financial woes and prompted its distinction then as the state’s leading eyesore.

But with new white aluminum cladding, a major redesign, a new name, three developers—and more than $5 billion and 16 years later—the American Dream is becoming reality as an expanded retail-entertainment complex that includes three indoor theme parks, 450 tenants and a dozen other attractions—far eclipsing the original concept, and with few peers, if any, in the changing U.S. retail real estate market.

And it’s all atop marshland that almost swallowed a Bobcat excavator.

In a new update, current Canada-based developer Triple Five Worldwide said March 25 that the long-anticipated hub would begin its staged opening in "late summer," in what they claim is an underserved market that will draw from the dense northeast population and even attract a share of millions of global tourists visiting New York City and the tri-state area annually.

About 20 million people live in a 50-mile radius with an average household income of $97.000, says nj.com.

Despite trends away from in-store shopping that generate speculaton on whether their big investment can be recouped, boosters project from 30 to 40 million visitors in the first year of operation, according to other published reports.

The 5-million-sq-ft project is borrowing from Triple Five’s own playbook for its mega-retail Mall of America complex in Minneapolis, where 20% of the property features entertainment attractions. That facility now also has a $250-million plan to build what would be North America’s largest indoor waterpark if it wins over opponents.

American Dream is amplifying the tilt to entertainment, says Tony Armlin, vice president of development at Edmonton, Alberta-based Triple Five, which took over the project in late 2010. “We positioned this so that 55% of our project is dedicated to amusement and attractions and dining experiences and 45% is focused on traditional retail experience,” he says.

该项目的零售设计架构师GH+A Design Studios的零售开发人员Debbie Kalisky说，主要的挑战是将各种元素融合在一起。她说：“这是一种新模型，是一个多维的多方面家庭目的地。”“那是高级的视野，将[零售中心]的骨头重新构想。”

A big part of the design was treating the existing abandoned structures—built by the first developer, Mills Corp., before it exited in a 2007 bankruptcy, and then by Colony Capital, which left in 2009—as a giant shell and essentially starting over, Armlin says. “We have completely revisioned, repositioned and redesigned what was here,” he says. “The only things that we maintained [were] in essence the [superstructure] and its envelope and some of the mechanical and electrical systems. The entire interiors were demolished and the whole exterior renovated.”

The $700 million in rehab work on those structures included substantial changes, says Wayne Melnyk, vice president of major projects leading the American Dream effort for PCL Construction Enterprises, the construction manager. “We’ve added skylights, we’ve closed areas where they had open courts, and in other places we’ve created open spaces or bump-outs in the building,” he says.

但是，施工工作还需要建造两个新的八英亩室内主题公园，更多的零售空间和许多额外的景点。最后，American Dream将以300万可租赁的零售和娱乐空间以及11,000个指定停车位的开放。

As Triple Five invested $3 billion into the project, on top of $2 billion in work from the prior developers, it has deployed an army of partners, consultants and staff, Armlin says.

“Obviously those are big numbers, so we had to assemble and create team management structures that would effectively execute renovation design, new design and enormous amounts of consultant coordination,” he says.

Everything and More

美国梦的范围归功于使该物业全年运营的愿景。它包括一个室内滑雪公园，Xanadu阶段的遗产，并有16层，800英尺长的滑雪坡和攀冰墙；一个以尼克式主题的游乐园为主题的游乐园，带有两个Gerstlauer滚筒，一个是世界上最陡峭的垂直下降，为121.5度，在22次骑行中；还有一个以1.5英亩的波浪池和25张幻灯片为主题的玻璃梦工厂主题的水上乐园。

Then there’s the retail zone, a massive assembly of shops, including high-end luxury and fashion brands in a “Collections” section anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue that is more than 80% leased, along with an experiential theme that will feature a 35,000-sq-ft Legoland and other interactive stores.

更多景点点点景点：一个300英尺高的观察轮，带有26个气候控制的吊船，可观看纽约市；一个35,000平方英尺的Merlin Entertainment-Run水族馆；调节大小的溜冰场；一个80,000平方英尺的孩子角色扮演场地；还有1,400个座位的Cinimex豪华电影院。Armlin说，还有100多个用餐选择，还有来自相邻体育馆的22,000个停车位，未来的800间客房酒店都充满了开发项目的“度假胜地般的感觉”。

PCL American Dream的PCL运营经理Steve Schmalz说，该项目团队通过分区化来管理这项工作。他说：“我们基本上有9亿美元的计划恰好在彼此五分钟的步行路程内建设。”“工作地点是一个校园。”

Triple Five assembled the attraction roster over years as its vision expanded and it gained control over more of the 120-acre property, Armlin says. It came aboard in 2010 as successor developer on existing structures but took over most of the site in 2013, and even is negotiating to also take over the now unused 19,000-seat Izod Arena that the mall wraps around, he says.

Triple Five’s design concept has built on ideas from its Mall of America and its West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, mega-retail properties that themselves have added attractions via upgrades and rehabilitations over the years. It is deploying the same model for a planned 174-acre, $4-billion American Dream Miami complex set to open in 2023 with an indoor ski slope and 2,000 hotel rooms.

Triple Five在American Dream上利用了几个融资伙伴。融资包括17亿美元的建设贷款，并从一份免税债券中获得了11亿美元的收益，均由J.P. Morgan和Goldman Sachs安排。Armlin说，一部分债券融资与3.9亿美元的州赠款有关。

The developer also has relied on a mix of partners, including PCL and GH+A, which had worked on its previous malls, as well as new contractor and consultant relationships in the region. That includes firms that worked on Xanadu, such as Adamson Architects and McNamara Salvia Structural Engineers; Gensler, as architect; Langan Engineering, as geotechnical consultant; and Torcon, as “strategic subcontractor partner”—among more than 150 subcontractors and 20 consultants, Armlin says.

Armlin说，这项工作 - 与卑尔根县的建筑和建筑行业达成了项目劳动协议 - 每天都有2,000多人。他说，该项目的少数族裔和女性贸易劳动参与近30％。他说：“随着施工的总结，我们可能会遵守24/7的时间表，直到今年晚些时候开放为止。”

Long and Swampy Road

Construction work began under the new project in 2014, with much of the early effort aimed at turning 14 marshy acres in a far corner of the property near the crossing of state Rt. 3 and the turnpike into usable land for the new water and amusement parks, Schmalz says.

“It took 18 months of geotechnical design, structural work, driving piles,” he notes. “We invested almost $100 million in subsurface work to get that [foundation built].”

Piles abound, PCL’s Melnyk says. “Even the ring road around it is on piles,” he says. “It’s very difficult, soft material. We almost lost a Bobcat in the swamp.”

但基础工作went smoothly thanks to coordination among PCL, which has Florida staff experienced in poor soils, Langan and local contractors steeped in work on area marshlands, including D’Annunzio & Sons and Linde-Griffith Construction, Armlin says. Soil conditions also led to efforts to “minimize the weight of the building,” Schmalz says, through use of air-inflated ETFE technology to form the covered domes over the water and amusement parks.

Demolition and rehabilitation on existing structure and concrete foundation work took up much of 2014 and 2015. By 2016, crews began to erect 32,000 tons of steel, which has dominated work since. But before the lifts, they faced a major task: mapping crane placement, Schmalz says.

“Our crane planning for erection was fully integrated with structural systems for the foundations of buildings,” he says. “Because we’re on swamp ground here, we couldn’t rely on anything; all crane matting programs, crane support, and lifting paths—everything was integrated into the foundations of the buildings.”

Once sited, the cranes could not simply roll into another spot on the spread-out property, Schmalz says. “You had to make sure your original plan had all the correct elements of where you’re going to be picking from, what you were going to be lifting, what your capacities were going to be and what loads you were going to be driving back down into the foundation,” he says. “You had very limited flexibility from that perspective.” The project used 20 cranes at its peak, as well as 135 snorkel lifts and various elevated platforms, Schmalz says.

An added challenge was the need to maintain normal traffic flow and operations for neighboring MetLife Stadium, which hosts numerous concerts and sporting events, and is home to the National Football League’s Jets and Giants. The team had to relocate a perimeter road running through the project site on several occasions, Melnyk says. “That was a real challenge to keep the amusement park and water park on schedule while still maintaining a flow of traffic, certainly on game days,” he says.

High-End Note Finish

American Dream’s hundreds of tenants will spread throughout its multi-floor shopping segment, which will have “elegant and sophisticated” finishes and distinct sections, each with its own common area court that can host events and experiential retail attractions, Kalisky says. The signature feature will be the Collections section of upscale luxury retailers and restaurants, with a design that gives them extra flourish in the form of two-level-high facades, even when interior store spaces are only one level, she says.

她说：“它模仿了街道上的高街体验……在伦敦或纽约市（旗舰店里）拥有非常强大的街道风格（店面）。”“我们试图在室内环境中为零售商模仿同样的强大存在。”

施马尔兹说，随着较大的项目完成完成，许多零售商正在自己的空间开始工作。他说，游乐园已完成90％，安装了所有游乐设施，并且在完成工作时进行了进展，而零售部分已完成80％，地板和最终装饰。

The water park is about 70% complete, with installation of giant water slides visible from nearby roads.

Armlin说，主要功能将在今年的阶段完成建设，该阶段由9月的水上乐园（Plan Park）封顶，该计划是由PCL领导的一致日程安排进行的，该计划由PCL进行了协调，该计划在乘车和滑动制造商中协调，建筑行业和承包商。他说：“完成这项工作只是一项艰巨的任务。”