American Dream Among 'Coolest New Things' This Year: Thrillist

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — American Dream Meadowlands continues to make an impression on people months before its scheduled opening.

The $5 billion retail and entertainment destination has been named to Thrillist's "Coolest New Things Coming to America This Year." It will set records and bring thousands of jobs to Bergen County when it opens later this year.

"The American Dream is an experience," Thrillist said. "American Dream is accessible to both city-dwellers via public transit and New Jerseyans alike looking to revel in the robust multi-sensory experience."

It is another accolade for the complex. It won the Best Futura Shopping Center Award from MAPIC, an international retail real estate and show held in France every November.

Most of the $5 billion retail and entertainment complex is slated to open in the spring. (See related: American Dream Meadowlands Sets Opening Date)

The Nickelodeon Universe amusement park will be located next to the Dream Works water park. The amusement park will feature the Spinning Coaster, the tallest and longest free-spinning coaster in the world, and the Euro-Fighter, among other attractions. (See related: 2 World-Record Roller Coasters Coming To American Dream)

The largest indoor ski slope in the western hemisphere will allow customers to take ski and snowboarding lessons all year. There will also be an ice-climbing wall and an NHL-size hockey rink.

But there is more to American Dream than amusement and water parks.

KidZania, a miniature city run by kids 4 to 14 years old, will have its own currency and companies like Honda, Sony, Kellogg's, Coca-Cola and others have sponsored businesses and landmarks in the attraction. A LEGOLAND Discovery Center with its 4-D cinema, LEGO brick pool, rides, and classes.

Moviegoers will be able to smell scents at Cinemex's 1,400-seat, dine-in movie theater with X4D technology. There will also be For The Win, a huge adult-orientated arcade. A hotel is in the planning stages.

There will be a 1,500-seat live performance theater and a Cirque du Soleil theater.

Foodies will have their pick from the world's first Kosher food court, MUNCHIES food hall, and 15 sit down restaurants.

Not everyone is excited about American Dream opening, however.

The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, a national environmental advocacy group, said American Dream Meadowlands is, "New Jersey's nightmare."

Jeff Tittel, the chapter's executive director, said that 100,000 vehicles a day must visit American Dream Meadowlands during the week and 150,000 on a Saturday in order for it to work.

"It'll be one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases in the region with all the heating and cooling that will go on there and all the electricity it's going to use," said Jeff Tittel, the chapter's executive director. "Everyday traffic will be like game day at Giants Stadium. What happens to the traffic in the region if on a Saturday people are going to the racetrack, shoppers are coming to the American Dream, and there is a Saturday football game at the Meadowlands?"

Mass transit has been worked into American Dream's design.

A commuter shuttle will run between the station NJ Transit operates at the Meadowlands and the Secaucus train station. NJ Transit will also operate a direct bus line from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City to American Dream.

New York Waterway is in talks to run a shuttle to take passengers to and from marinas along the Hudson River along the Gold Coast in Edgewater, Weehawken, and North Bergen.

In terms of local impact, American Dream Meadowlands is expected to generate $1.2 billion in income and provide 16,000 jobs when it opens.

Half of the 30 to 40 million people slated to visit American Dream Meadowlands are expected to be tourists in an effort to get those people to spend more of their money here, rather than in New York City.

American Dream Meadowlands will have a concierge staff fluent in several languages among others. Visitors can get information in their native language at digital kiosks and from a team fluent in Mandarin Chinese, French, Russian, Arabic, and other languages.

American Dream's beginnings go back back 12 years ago when the ill-fated Xanadu project was slated to be built. Developer Triple Five took over the project in 2011 and secured $1.6 billion from Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan to finance it.

The state Department of Community Affairs approved the sale of $800 million in taxpayer bonds to fund the project. The $800 million is in addition to $350 million in funding from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

"It's a waste of taxpayer money and that capital could have been used in building a biotech incubator," Tittel previously said. "All we're doing here is putting money into a mall and malls are dying."

Jim Kirkos, chief executive officer of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce, disagrees with Tittel.

Kirkos previously said that regional malls near the West Edmonton Mall, another one of Triple Five's properties, have expanded three times in the last six years.

"The Garden State Plaza, the Willowbrook Mall, American Dream is not expected to put those places out of business," Kirkos said.

Related:

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

An artists' rendering of what American Dream Meadowlands will look like when it is completed. (Courtesy of Triple Five)