Editor’s note: Sweet ‘Dream’ or beautiful nightmare?

Whether the “American Dream” is more than a marketing ploy goes beyond the 2020 presidential race. It’s now also a question for the real estate industry — one that’s likely to be answered in New Jersey’s Meadowlands, of all places.

When the $5 billion American Dream mall project opens on Oct. 25, critics will likely see an albatross of an outdated, 20-plus-year effort. But others see a Hail Mary pass of a retail reinvention effort. Reporter C. J. Hughes goes behind the scenes, talking to the project’s developer — a private family firm from Canada with Iranian roots — as well as brokers and others with a close eye on the 3 million-square-foot megaproject. See page 40.

One of the forces working against the giant mall’s success? Longtime frenemy to brick-and-mortar retail Amazon and other e-tailers, of course. Reporter Eddie Small talks to some of the biggest players in the business and crunches the numbers on the tri-state’s latest e-commerce warehouse buzz. The winner once again: New Jersey! Read the full story on page 20.

For those tuned into the latest rent law tensions, upstate New York — beyond the Hudson Valley — has become the latest battleground. Reporter Georgia Kromrei details the latest buyers looking northward, including Stephen Ross’ Related Companies, and the war over the free market upstate being waged from Rochester to Schenectady (page 10).

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In this issue, you can also find a look at the hotel pipeline for the tri-state region at large (page 18) and a peek at priciest listings in Westchester on page 54. Hot tip: There’s an entire island for sale in New Rochelle, if you’ve got a love of small boats and $13 million to spare.

Over on page 66, former brokerage head David Ogilvy explains why he opted to become part of Sotheby’s International Realty in Greenwich, Connecticut. As the scion to advertising moguls at Ogilvy & Mather, and a relative to others at competing ad firms, the broker described learning discretion in dealmaking at a tender age: “I learned at the dinner table that what you heard at one table, you just shut up and never mentioned again.” Good advice for everyone, most likely.

Enjoy the issue!