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Mel Evans / AP, File
This file photo from September 2011 shows the "American Dream" megamall in East Rutherford, N.J. Officials now want to facelift the brightly-colored shopping and entertainment complex before the 2014 Super Bowl, which will be hosted at MetLife Stadium, pictured rear right.
It's been called the "ugliest building in the world" by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — and now state officials want to do something about it before they host the Super Bowl in 2014.
The American Dream super mall project in East Rutherford, N.J., remains unfinished with its brightly-colored, multi-patterned facade, a stark contrast to the landscape surrounding the nearby New Jersey Turnpike.
Adjacent to the site is MetLife Stadium, home to two NFL teams: the New York Jets and New York Giants. The three-year-old stadium will host the 2014 Super Bowl.
But before the crowds come into town for the big game, state officials want to change the look of the megamall building next door, which remains idle after construction stalled in 2009 due to financial woes, The-Star Ledger newspaper reported.
The project, formerly called "Xanadu," is currently only 80 percent complete.
"I would anticipate the construction will start in 2013 and there will be a heavy emphasis on making sure the exterior will look different before the Super Bowl," real estate executive Jon F. Hanson told The Star-Ledger.
"When they get finished, it will be hard to remember what it looked like," Hanson — who also serves as Gov. Christie's chief adviser on New Jersey's sports and entertainment industries — told the newspaper. "What they will do will change it dramatically."
A spokesman for the project's new developer, Triple Five, told The-Star Ledger that they agree that changing the building facade is a "priority."
"While American Dream will not be completed in time for the Super Bowl, we do fully intend to be prepared and able to host and support Super Bowl-related events as needed to assist the host committee and others with related Super Bowl needs," spokesman Alan Marcus told the newspaper.
The American Dream Meadowlands project, which has already seen its share of criticism for being an alleged eyesore, aims to be a destination and claims that it would attract 40 million visitors annually.
The site would feature everything from retail stores to movie theaters to an indoor ski and snowboard park. The costs for the project is up to $3.7 billion, according to The Star-Ledger.
Last summer, the Giants and the Jets sued to block the megamall, claiming it would create traffic woes and interference with game days, The Associated Press reported.
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Imagine that! Governor Christie calls this building the ugliest building in the world, and yet Frank Gehry had nothing to do with it. Amazing!
Right now Mr. Christie and NJ have much important issues to take care of then resurfacing the exterior of a mall. And to so for a Super Bowl---come on where are the priorities!
The is a lot of the Shore to still clean up, emphasis and fund should go there, not to the exterior of a mall ---it is just a mall afterall! And SUper Bowl folks will get over it and if not let them pay for the exterior wall.
Jersey has many more important issues to deal with!
It must be getting warmer in NJ or something so there's no more worrying about all those people who were left homeless over the winter.
It's that age old proverb, "Why worry about the inflicted, when you can help the rich look better?"
Hate to tell them but that's not the ugliest building in the world.
From the picture I don't see a damn thing wrong with it. Why waste taxpayer money oh wait they will use all that money people donated to super storm Sandy survivors.
Makes me want to puke. Who built the building in the first place? What does playing football have to do with what a building looks like on the outside or for that matter on the inside? I am tired of money being spent on futile things. The economy is in dire straights and this is what people worry about? Forget about those hard working American's who have lost their homes, their lives. And I have seen a lot uglier buildings.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
One man's trash is another man's treasure. If everything was based on looks, would christie be governor?
HEY JERSEY...First thought is you actually NEED some shoppers folks...this thing will keep the drive by's away but you still need a population of people to make purchases. Maybe paint it the same colors as the welfare office so it feels like home...jus saying...word.
Make sure it has a donut shop Gov. Chris Krispy Kreme...he likey donut.
No, Frank Gehry had nothing to do with Xanadu. The Designer was David Rockwell. I worked with his group in the 90's for another Jersey Site. The ideas are bold, but difficult and costly to construct. Bold doesn't always mean beautiful.
I was on the architect of record's construction document team. I became known for solving the problems and making the project more cost effective and safe. You have to be real creative in construction to build it without bankrupting the project. Xanadu is not exception.
From just looking at google images of the ghost project, the problem won't be can you do something with what is there. The problem would be finding someone to invest in it.
The facade change could be easier than one might think and would be the best thing to do. At some point someone may pick the project up again. The one I worked on was over 10 years trying to get a developer to take it up.
Giants and Jets sued to block the mall? WTF. the mall was stalled in 2009 and their new stadium was built after that so they are the traffic problem since the mall was there first. Once again the BILLIONAIRE NFL owners club thinks the world revolves around them. If you did not want a mall next to your stadium why did you build your stadium next to one? STUPID.
just leave the ugly "LEGO" building alone ,don't waste taxpayers funds on "private pork projects" who care if its ugly football is suppose to be a "mans game" not some fancy @!$%# !!!
Even deeper tax cuts should fix this problem as well, Christie.
"From just looking at google images of the ghost project, the problem won't be can you do something with what is there. The problem would be finding someone to invest in it."
Exactly, this reminds me an awful lot of the "Old Chicago" mall that was on the outskirts of Chicago in the 1970s. It was a themed shopping mall with an indoor rides area, but the stores there were all themed with turn of the century old novelty crap, and they didn't have any actual anchor stores, like a normal department store, a Target, or the similar... you know, something that would generate steady revenue and keep people coming back to the mall.
So when they opened, they had huge crowds, despite the many mechanical and construction flaws in the building. But those cutesy stores didn't bring back the repeat business once the Great America theme park opened up. Combined with the fact that they had gone way over budget meant that their finances were always on shaky ground. Add in several minor fires and they were hurting for money.
After a few years, they had reduced hours and even after getting new investors eventually the rides were all removed and only a few stores remained. Eventually even those stores were kicked out and the entire (this was an absolutely gigantic building for the time) complex was just a giant parking lot and a big empty building in the middle of it.
I remember riding by it many times as a kid when we were in the Chicago area. I always felt bad that it was closed as the idea of a shopping mall with rides was a great idea to me.
The local government tried to do many things with the giant building for a number of years, but since it wasn't built using the best construction in the first place the years of vacancy had led to a huge amount of interior damage from water and snow leaking in. It would have cost a lot to get the building ready for use again. They tried to bid it out as a film sound stage, and as a trade mission for China among other ideas. Eventually the building was torn down and now there's a used car auction site there... such a waste of what would have been a great idea - if only they had added anchor stores in the first place.
It took many years for anybody else to try the same general concept... and of course it is a smashing success: Mall of America (and West Edmonton mall) is one of the largest tourist destinations in the world - and it's a truly gigantic shopping mall (with anchor stores!) with rides, an aquarium with sharks, bars, cinema, several giant food courts, a Lego store with dozens of huge Lego figures nearby and in the air, and yes when I said rides I mean several carny type of rides but three full rollercoasters including one with a loop. Not bad for an indoors park.
This eyesore in Jersey does not deserve to be called "megamall", as it certainly doesn't look to be one from the picture and info they provided... it looks like a big mall, but nothing like the mighty MoA (which itself has been passed by a number of malls in Asia) so using the common nickname for MoA is not OK.
HEY JediUtahn ... You do know that NJ has some of the highest grossing malls in the country right? Garden State Plaza only 10 minutes from that monstrosity called Xanadu is in the top ten busiest shopping centers in America. So I am pretty sure we have plenty of people making purchases. Its also located in Bergen County, the most populated county in the state and also in the top 20 highest per capita income in the US. People there have a large amount of disposable income.
BTW the building of this horrible thing that is a complete embarrassment to anyone who lives in NJ went down under Governor Corzine, our Democrat buddy who "lost" 1.6 Billion dollars of customers money. And people say Christie is a wall street Governor? Corzine, one of the most corrupt Governors NJ has seen in my generation, made 400 million dollars after departing Goldman Sachs. Hypocrites.
Don't worry, after visitors drive past the ruins of Newark and Secaucus to get to that mall, they will find it beautiful.
Wasn't that area supposed to be where the Xanadu project was started and failed?
When I first saw the photo , i thought that gray 8 sided thing could use a little help. It is not the one they are calling the ugly one. I think they need to rethink this.
.... And in other news... New Jersey mall building calls Chris Christie the 'fattest man in the world.'
Let me get this right.
Building is empty it stands completely uninhabited in terms of shoppers and stores, but they want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more, making it look pretty.
That's some seriously messed up priorities right there.
Christie just wants to eat at a better looking mall.
New Jersey isn't exactly known as a haven of architecture. This reinforces that, in chunks.
Oh, bite me. New Jersey has PLENTY of great architecture - more than 40 other states, by a wide margin. Actually, this building - which looks like it does mainly because it was added to multiple times - is nowhere NEAR the ugliest building in America. Nowhere NEAR. Governor Crisco is just upset because it doesn't have as many food courts as he'd like, for his gargantuan "tastes."
Spoken like a true ignorant putz. Morons who bash New Jersey have either never been here, or only places like Newark. Get a clue.
the snippet on Jersey Shore, Camden, and Newark are not all of New Jersey people! Most of New England could take an architecture hint from NJ.
If it was a animal it would have to be put down. Flatten it. A parking lot would look better.
The "architect" who designed it should seek another career, hard rock mining perhaps.
Hey Ed would you prefer to redo the exterior of that mall or rebuild homes, businesses and The Shore.
Opp please do not answer as your light went out.
Rebuild after Sandy. No Question about it. Polishing this turd for a one day event is wasteful and not very bright.
I assumed he was talking about a mosque
Many mosques are quite beautiful, so thanks for making it so immediately clear that your comment is only an expression of your kneejerk, mindless Islamophobia.
Islamophobia? Oh, that's rich. I guess then the muslims have everyoneelseophobia. Most churches are beautiful as well, so what's your point?
rb, clearly you've never actually traveled to any muslim country. Less than 5% of muslims are as bat@!$%# crazy as the taliban, and most have more humility, hospitality, and charity than the vast majority of american christians.
@Patrick93-79b31
Less than 5%? You've obviously not looked at any of the polls taken in muslim countries. The numbers are actually much, much higher!
Old, polls run by who now? Go back to your fox hole or continue pmsn-ing. I've traveled the muslim countries for years, and you could not find too many people as nice as they are in the U.S..
this is off track which is where the conversation seems to have gone...however simply LOOKING American makes almost every Arab nation a risky tourism destination in the current enviroment. So as far as the 5% quote above....get real with your numbers and start actually making sense. I predict that it would take fewer than 20 trips to Arab nations before you found your life at risk and that would be more than a 5% bat@!$%# crazy ratio.
My first thought when I saw the photo was: "Wow, looks like a building in Beijing" and then I read it was named Xanadu. It is UGLY.
So long as me (NJ taxpayer) is not paying to have it facelifted then I'm cool with whatever they want to do. NOt going to make me any more or less likely to shop there.
My sentiments exactly as a NJ taxpayer.
Looks like a mausoleum, perhaps to hold all the departed NJ wise guys.
Most of the departed wiseguys are in New Jersey and New York's landfills.
Well, with the Super Bowl coming in 14, they might want to think about leveling it for a parking lot..
They've got enough parking for the capacity of the stadium. Why would they need more? Are the spectators going to sit three to a seat just because it's the Stupid Bowl?
That building? That's not bad compared to most buildings around there. Just go to downtown Newark or the strip malls around there if you want some bad architecture. Most American buildings are ugly. Maybe Christie should tear those down too.
Strip malls are not supposed to be great architecture. Not in any state that's full of them (i.e. the other 49). You pay through the nose for "great architecture," and if you hate it after it's finished, you're stuck with it anyway. Commissioning "great architecture" is a crapshoot, and you have to blow your construction budget to play.
I disagree, in many cases we are paying more for worse architecture.
So far this Zanadu project has been a giant disaster anyway,
I lived in N.J. most of my life. Nothing that happens there surprises me, including their aparent fixation with Governors named Christie. I live in Fl. now, where the planning boards are still somewhat for sale, like in N.J., but not to the same extent. They are more in touch with what the people want. If a developer wants to build a mall of any kind, it needs to be aesthetically in tune with it's surroundings or it doesn't get built. There are very few, if any monstrosities like this damn ugly thing. It looks like it was built from the remnants of destroyed IKEA stores and Burger King restaurants. I would bet that if the Super Bowl wasn't going to be in N.J., the project would go on as planned.
Well, at least we can count votes here in NJ ;)
high five rb XD
@rbjk0174s
At least twice!
lol rbjko, but counting wasn't the problem. It was the aparent inability of people to push the poking instrument completely through the punch card. I guess a good number of the q-tips didn't eat their Wheaties that day' or there was a voting card malfunction. Whatever....Needless to say, the following Halloween, people dressed up as "hanging chads", etc. It was quite comical. I think they have it fixed now. ;-) Be well.
sure go ahead spend a few billion ..That what the Wealthy want if you check into it somebody in Politic owns a piece of it. They could use that money to finish the tunnel from NJ to NY...But then again fat ass doesn't have a vested interest in it..or maybe he does...
Should we go on about Corzine? Because he was just sooo much better.
Wow, indoor malls still exist somewhere?
Seems like an ugly mall is the LEAST of NJ's problems at the moment.
Quick. Come up with a design plan that includes lots of glass, lots of brick, and neutral color patterns. We need this thing to look like every other building, on every other street, in every other city ASAP. The more it looks like a bank, the better.
The article is wrong....
The ugliest building in the world is Indianapolis NFL stadium...Oil greed field...lmfao.
Sadly, you could pave the streets of this area of NJ with gold, and it would still look like the armpit of the United States. It has the same dank, dark features of the old Soviet Union. Nothing short of completely bulldozing the entire area and building it back with the enthusiasm of a Dubai-like emperor would make it remotely worth visiting. The local population knows nothing better, so they accept this garbage dump as normal.
You must be from either Philadelphia or New York. One small stretch of New Jersey, from Rt. 3 to Bayway, is unaesthetic. The rest is achingly beautiful. I was born and raised in New Jersey, and I know what is pretty and what isn't. Just ride the NJ Turnpike from New Brunswick to the Delaware River, and it could be the best parts of Virginia or Kentucky. I wouldn't think much of North Carolina if I judged it by downtown Durham or Winston-Salem, or Virginia by Hampton Roads. You see what you want to see.
There are some stretches on NJ that are nice. Much of it is pure crap though. What about Route 17 south of the Paramas Park Mall?
We Americans love our crappy architecture and god awful 'towns.'
The Jersey-bashing inbreds are once again mouthing off. Guess what, we have PLENTY of beauty here. South Jersey alone has wilderness, farms and gorgeous homes. We're the Garden State for a reason; if any of you non-NJ jerks would get off your fat behinds and check it out.
Of course the mall needs to be completed as everyone knows how important the super bowl is. Let the taxpayers pay for millionaire's folly!!
The taxpayers pay for all the low lives in the country too, why not add to it. At least I get something out of a mall.
alan - "Route 17 South of paramus" - are you really thinking that's representative of an entire state? Route 17 does not even continue past East Rutherford, so you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.
and, alur.. well, you're just an idiot. I am pretty sure the loss of entertaining you as a visitor is quite minimal, and irrelevant.
New York Giants? New York Jets? If they play in New Jersey then shouldn't they be the New Jersey Giants and the New Jersey Jets?
Most of New Jersey has been agitating for this for years. The Star-Ledger's top sports columnist has always referred to the teams as New Jersey 1 and New Jersey 2. The "fiction" arises from the fact that both teams still have "offices" in Manhattan.
NY can keep 'em.
I will be dead and turned to dust before the American Dream project gets up and running. It's been over 10 years now since Xanadu was first announced. It's not gonna happen.
No shortage of ugly buildings around there. Why start with this one when at least it is so new and serviceable? Funny how they get self-conscious about aesthetics when they realize the rest of the country will be looking at this for the superbowl. They found a new passion for cleaning up Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden when the Republican Convention was in Philadelphia in 2000. They bought out strip clubs, liquor stores and gas stations just to tear them down and landscape the properties. I'll admit it does look better. I just wish this kind of concern were a little more constant.
Perhaps in that general area, but NJ has plenty of beautiful looking architecture.
Certainly looks like an unfinished project. What happened to all these negative comments during the planning process? The NJ state government is involved in this matter because of the Super Bowl? NJ taxpayers are covering the cost? I'm just trying to understand how all these pieces fit together. I'm gobsmacked this is a topic of discussion given the building's status as 80% complete. Generally, does NJ (or that other "ugly" building called Gov Christie) discourage any kind of color other than grey and black? For fans attending the Super Bowl event, will color be allowed or only that which matches the immediate terrain? Seems creative freedom is being squashed, but I'll just stay home for the Super Bowl next year so I won't feel like I am violating NJ code by wearing bright blue or yellow or orange or green or whatever...I'll leave the black and grey to NYC and E Rutherford, NJ. What a cheerful place to shop!
Spoken like a true, non-NJ putz. Yeah, stay in your cesspool; we don't want your ugly face here either. We have plenty of color here, if you had any clue, you'd know that.
Before you start spouting BS maybe you should read about Xanadu and how all this happened in the first place. Christie had nothing to do with it. He is trying to fix the situation that CORZINE a CORRUPT WALL STREET DEMOCRAT started. Corzine's Wall Street buddies were the ones who invested in the thing.
Gary Rose was then-Governor Corzine’s hand-picked chief of economic development—-Rose helped direct a $1.5 billion bail out of Xanadu while owning stock in a company poised to lose over a billion dollars…….. if (and when) the Meadowlands project failed. Gary D. Rose, who also promoted major deals in Atlantic City and the state’s burgeoning biotech sector, appears to have had a financial stake at both ends of the Xanadu deal.
Corzine on Thursday revealed that he had close ties to a private firm behind Xanadu after signing a bill that could bring the nation’s second-largest aquarium, an economic incentive for the Meadowlands project and its massive combination of shops and entertainment venues.
State records show that Rose held stock and mutual funds in Goldman Sachs throughout his two-year stint as Corzine’s top economic development official. Rose stepped down in June.
Goldman/Sachs, the Manhattan-based investment bank where both Rose and Corzine were partners, loaned Xanadu developer Mills Corp. more than $1.1 billion…………….and investors feared the money could be lost as Mills veered near bankruptcy in 2006.
The ugliest building in the world is my neighbor's purple house.
Armpit state, armpit architecture
justredd, I couldn't agree more. Back in '69 after visiting Texas courtesy of the USAF, I noticed how much our country resembles the human anatomy. The N.Y. and L.A. metropolitan areas are the respective armpits and Texas is the a$$hole. Then, just a few years ago, I noticed how much Florida resembles the penis. The rest of the digestive system is between all of that, more or less. :-D
Hmm, armpit mentality...that's you NJ bashers. Try actually seeing most of NJ before you make jokes. I'm willing to bet there's some ugly stuff going on in your states...starting with your ignorance.
rbjko, it's all good. I'm 62 and spent 51 of those years in N.J. It's my home state and wouldn't trade the experience of growing up there for anything. I grew up in Orange. Back in the 50's and 60's it wasn't too bad. Now it's the better part of a cesspool. South Munn Ave. in East orange was a high class neighborhood back then with fancy apartment buildings and whatnot. In the 80's, for whatever reason, it became a haven for drug dealers and a$$wipe gang bangers. I coined a phrase back in the late 70's "the ever spreading urban cancer". I wonder will it ever stop. I don't normally bash my home state, but when i do it's because it deserves it and I paid my dues there, so I'm entitled. But it's all in jest. And that's that, my friend. Be well.
Just get several Fathead NFL giant posters and plaster the place. It will be an instant fan favorite.
They should remodel it to look like REAL architecture, Like the Acropolis in Greece, Grand Central Terminal in New York City, Buckingham Palace, Taj Mahal, Saint Peters Cathedral , Emerad Clity(Wizard of OZ), or even the Disney Castle. You would only have to spend the money ONCE ,and the design would be TIMELESS. Our civilization is in DECLINE , and the small minded planning boards are helping it along. All those beautiful Old Victorian houses in Newark and surrounding areas have been brickfaced, aluminum sided, stucco'd over,and commercialized to death. The critisizm is spot on. WE have beautiful areas in the state but most of it is a sh-t hole. If you are going to dream ,dream not just BIG ,but Dream Beautiful, Its part of the quality of life. Long after we are gone, some aliens will be digging through our remains and wondering, WTF happened ?