VIP cocktails, DJs, dancers, fashion shows, balloons and more: the opening day of the Canadian-owned American megamall called American Dream planned for maximum effect and excitement.
The assignment in New Jersey, just across the Manhattan Bridge, in progression for nine years and encouraged through the West Edmonton Mall and the Mall of America in Minneapolis, the other two well-known destinations owned by Edmonton’s wealthy Ghermezian family.
The 3 houses combine retail outlets with amusement park attractions. The approximately 3 million-square-foot American Dream includes attractions such as a DreamWorks water park, an An Angry Birds mini golf course, Legoland and an indoor ski slope, as well as some 450 stores such as Levi’s, Sephora, H
But, of course, the grand opening on 19 March took place not, but a global pandemic. The venue closed on March 16 along with all casinos, gyms and theaters in the state.
The reopening is scheduled for October 1, but occurs in the midst of a currency crisis.
The 3 places of entertainment and grocery shopping of the Ghermezians have been connected in combination in a monetary agreement that shows signs of weakness.
To help fund American Dream, the family business circle, Triple Five Group, hypothesisted the West Edmonton Mall and the Mall of America. According to Trepp LLP, a knowledge company that tracks ad mortgages, Triple Five has not paid bills about $US1. 4 billion Mall of America loans since May. The state of Finance at West Edmonton Mall is unclear.
“The Ghermezians have a very complex business empire, and the malls are part of it, but it’s a personal company, so we don’t have all the information,” said Nick Egelanian, a retail representative in Annapolis, Maryland, who saw Triple Five Bet up close. “But it turns out that this scenario can put all houses in default. “
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, the New York-based investment that helped establish structured loans for Ghermezians, rejected a request for comment from CBC News.
Members of Ghermezian’s family circle also do not communicate. According to a spokesperson, they are “extremely busy” with the new official Opening Plan for American Dream on October 1. The venue’s artistic director, Ken Downing, does the media interviews. and insists that everything is under control.
“The team is super excited,” he said in an interview from Manhattan. “We seek to reintroduce and reopen the public, and we have to do it the right way. “
WATCHING Dianne Buckner visits the American Dream megamall structure in 2018:
The launch of American Dream was scheduled to take place in stages, and some of the attractions opened in the fall of 2019, while retailers and other theme park attractions had originally planned to open completely in March. all megamall is limited to a quarter of its capacity due to COVID.
“I don’t think you can locate many large projects like ours that have not been affected by COVID,” Downing said.
It emits the only charm that reopened on September 1 of this year, the indoor ski resort, and says other people queue at 8am with their skis and snowboards. “People love this ski slope,” Downing said. been as busy as you can imagine with a capacity of 25%. “
But even before the pandemic economic crisis, there was much skepticism about the desirability of opening the new mall in a climate marked by several giant stores looking to break or liquidate their assets. Besides, there’s more than enough, malls in the state, according to Jeff Tittel of the bankruptcy of the Sierra Club environmental organization in New Jersey, who says there’s no form of American Dream on the monetary stage of Ghermezians’ three properties.
“People who move to New York must move to Radio City Music Hall or the Empire State Building,” he said. “They’re passing by to get on a bus and come to New Jersey. “
The Sierra Club opposed the American Dream from day one because it has an effect on wetlands in the region. “It was the wrong assignment in the wrong position at the wrong time,” Tittel said.
But the circle of relatives of Ghermezian, whose patriarch came to Canada from Iran in the 1950s and built Triple Five with a fortune in genuine real estate development, with the help of his four children and now grandchildren, is not easily discouraged.
In the late 1990s, they spent four years fighting a lawsuit filed by the Alberta Treasury Board and came out triumphant. And before the West Edmonton Mall and the Mall of America were built, there was a doubt that any of those sites would. Both have enjoyed remarkable success, ranked among the main tourist attractions.
Steve Rappaport, a New Jersey real estate broker who specializes in retail leasing, says the mall’s expropriation conversations are irrelevant.
“People like to meet, ” said Rappaport. ” It’s been much more than buying groceries at a grocery mall. These are places where other people walk through shopping malls in the morning, and teens pass after school just go out. “
He believes American Dream’s profitability will be difficult, but says he has no doubt that the Ghermezians will stay the course. “I don’t think they’re going to suddenly say that everything is lost and just go back to the keys. “
However, there is this mortgage factor. Delays in repayment of a loan of approximately $1. 4 billion are no small thing.
Trepp LLP executive leader Manus Clancy says it all about lenders.
“They have to assess whether the borrower needs the assets, and do they have the monetary capacity for this?Or is it better to take care of the assets and locate a new team to manage them?”
Some in the industry that only Ghermez residents enjoy managing upscale destinations like American Dream, West Edmonton Mall and Mall of America, with their exclusive combination of retail attractions and theme parks.
Clancy is convinced.
“We have great players in America, like Simon and Brookfield; are operators of high-end malls in the United States. So there are other people who would be candidates,” he said, if lenders lost confidence in Triple Five Group.
At Davidon, Percy Woods, director of the Building Owners and Managers Association, trusts family.
“They may have just had their PhD in monetary scenario management,” he said. “They went well. They’re very smart. And they did very well. “
Dianne Buckner has been reporting on marketing specialists for two decades, presents Dragons ‘ Den at CBC Television and is part of the CBC News Network’s economic news team.
To inspire thoughtful and respectful conversations, the call and first call will be submitted to CBC/Radio-Canada online communities (except in the children’s and youth communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be allowed.
By submitting a comment, you agree that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish such comment in whole or in part, as chosen by CBC. Please note that CBC supports the reviews expressed in the comments. Comments on this story are moderated according to our presentation guidelines. Comments are welcome when they are open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.
Public Relations, CBC P. O. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6
Loose toll (Canada only): 1-866-306-4636
TTY Editor / Teletype: 1-866-220-6045
The priority of CBC/Radio-Canada is to create a site available to all Canadians, adding other people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive impairments.
The encoded subtitles and video described are available for many CBC systems transmitted by CBC Gem.