Secaucus Threatens Legal Action Over American Dream Opening

SECAUCUS, NJ — Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli is very concerned about the looming opening of the American Dream mega mall, and he threatened legal action if the state does not give Secaucus more money to combat traffic, light pollution, noise and a whole laundry list of woes expected to befall the town once the mall opens in September of this year.

This Thursday morning, Gonnelli spoke forcefully in front of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) at their monthly public meeting held at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. The powerful NJSEA not only owns and controls the land on which American Dream sits, it oversees the operation of the entire Meadowlands Sports Complex, which includes Giants/Jets stadium and the racetrack.

The NJSEA is run by a board of commissioners, who are appointed by the governor. It was the NJSEA that negotiated the lease with mall operator Triple 5 to open American Dream, after more than a decades' worth of companies backed out of the site.

"I am asking you guys to please, please step up to the plate and help us," said the Secaucus mayor Thursday morning. "I have to tell thousands of people who live in Secaucus that we are going to be looking at this every day. All the traffic from this is going to spill over to Secaucus."

"There is going to be a 3oo-foot-tall Ferris wheel. It's going to face Secaucus. They are talking about putting massive technicolor signs on the Turnpike. All those signs are going to face Secaucus. When you live in Secaucus, Osprey Cove and elsewhere, you're looking at this stuff," he said. "I am asking you guys to step up to the plate or we're going to have to take this to the next level. And we really don't want to have to do that."

Speaking to Patch after the meeting, Gonnelli said he doesn't want to have to go through the trouble of suing the NJSEA, but it's an option that's on the table. It wouldn't be an unusual move: The town of Kearny is suing the NJSEA over a landfill dispute.

Gonnelli said he's met with Gov. Phil Murphy to voice complaints about the mall, but that was over a month ago "and I've heard nothing. I can't do anything else. I've been to every agency and I get no response. The only answers I'm getting are runaround."

Former state assembly speaker Vincent Prieto is the president of the NJSEA Board of Commissioners and he himself lives in Secaucus, as well.

"I share your concerns about the light affecting Secaucus," Preito told Gonnelli at the meeting today. "But to be totally honest, I don't know what our recourses are. We have to abide by what's in the lease."

Secaucus only getting $100,000 per year in exchange for the mall

Triple 5 inked a 75-year lease with the NJSEA to run the mall. The mall itself is a 91-acre campus and the opening has been pushed back several times now. They are now looking at a late September 2019 opening, the mayor said.

Back in 2004, when the site sat empty and was still called Xanadu, local towns in the area negotiated a PILOT (payments in lieu of taxes) arrangement with the NJSEA. Once the mall opens, Secaucus will receive $100,000 a year from the mall. Compare that to Carlstadt, which will receive $1 million per year.

Gonnelli said Secaucus needs more money. And times have changed since 2004.

What started out as a mere mall has turned into what will become one of the largest entertainment complexes on the Eastern Seaboard. When Triple 5 took over the site, plans exploded. An aquarium was added, as was an indoor water park and an amusement park run by DreamWorks, plus the Ferris wheel. American Dream will now include a 12-story indoor ski park, a 22,000-square-foot adult arcade, a LEGOLAND, and a 1,500-seat 4D movie theater where moviegoers can "smell" the film they're watching. A hotel will be added in the future.

Triple 5 is a luxury international mall operator that owns the Mall of American in Minneapolis.

Several high-end retailers have already reserved space in the 3 million-square-foot facility, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, Off 5th and Hermes. That section will feature valet parking and a champagne bar.

And it's all happening right across the Hackensack River, in Secaucus' backyard.

"When you talk about traffic, you are talking about 40 million vehicles a day going to this place," said Gonnelli. "All the traffic from the train station, all the traffic from New York. It's inevitable. It has no place else to go. Secaucus is going to bear the brunt of this."

"What else can we get out of it? This whole thing started in 2002 and I can't change what they are planning," said Gonnelli. "I can only try to get as much as I can for the town of Secaucus."

Past Patch reporting:

'Most Expensive Retail Project On Earth' Coming To Meadowlands

American Dream Meadowlands Is More Than 75% Leased