It took 17 years and no small amount of public ridicule as it sat dormant in the New Jersey meadowlands, but a small portion of the American Dream mall is now open to the public.
American Dream, a $5 billion, 2.9-million-square-foot mall opened in New Jersey on Friday. Located just eight miles west of Manhattan, the partial opening of the new retail behemoth attracted no shortage of media coverage.
When American Dream is fully up and running next year, the mall will 450 shops and restaurants in addition to entertainment uses like amusement parks, an indoor ice rink, and ski areas.
The project has been long in the making, according to an article by Elise Young. "Planning started more than 17 years ago, but construction setbacks had left the site half-finished amid the former dumps and swamps, its garish multicolored exterior a beacon for ridicule alongside the New Jersey Turnpike."
Young also builds a narrative of malls as a centerpiece of New Jersey culture, writing: "New Jersey malls are stages for dramas big and small. A future president’s son proposed in one; an angry parent clobbered a man dressed as the holiday mascot in another."
Additional news coverage is also found in an article by Melanie Anzidei, Catherine Carrera, Jessie Gomez, and Scott Fallon, who got opening day access to the new mall, providing a sneak peak of what's open to the public now, and what will be coming online soon. The amusement park and ice rink were the first attractions to open, according to the article. According to the article, "guests will have to wait until late November to check out the indoor water park; early December for the snow park; and March 2020 to shop and dine. Officials have described a string of opening celebrations as 'chapters.'"
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