NJ approves Meadowlands, Xanadu plans

From left: Jeff Gural, chairman of Newmark Knight Frank, the Meadowlands project and the Xanadu project

The New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority has approved plans by
Jeff Gural, chairman of Newmark Knight Frank, to construct a more
compact grandstand at the Meadowlands Racetrack,
Real Estate Weekly reported. And close by, the American Dream
development on the site of the Xanadu Mall,
which Governor Chris Christie called the “ugliest building in New
Jersey, and possibly America,” also received approval for a more
stylish redesign.

The 3 million-square-foot Xanadu complex, which will undergo extensive
renovations and a 4.5 million-square-foot expansion costing a total of
$1.5 billion, “has the potential to become a suburban Times Square,”
according to Glenn Brill, a managing director at FTI Consulting.
Construction on Gural’s project is now expected to start in February.
He is planning to invest $90 million to redevelop the racetrack and the grandstand.

The redesign of American Dream will introduce a white and silver color
scheme, and replace garish green and orange windows with glass.

By the time Triple Five, which also owns the Mall of America and the
West Edmonton Mall in Canada, completes the American Dream project in 2013, the
company expects over 25 million foreign visitors to ski in an indoor
snow dome, attend concerts in a brand-new performing arts center, and
surf six-foot waves in a climate-controlled simulation of a Hawaiian
beach. [REW]