Dive Brief:
- Completion of the massive American Dream Miami retail amusement center in Miami-Dade County, FL, could be pushed back from 2020 to 2022, according to The Real Deal.
- Project officials said the holdup is due to infrastructure improvements that will not be finished for five years, as they want the megamall's opening to coincide with the completion of nearby transportation projects.
- Some opponents of the project argue that the massive development will have a negative impact on traffic and infrastructure surrounding the project. However, officials said that if critics manage to stop construction, the site will be turned into several industrial parks, which they suggested would result in traffic problems as well.
Dive Insight:
If the project — under Triple Five Group and the Graham Companies — comes to fruition, it would be the largest mall and amusement park in the U.S., topping the current titleholder, Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN. Project officials said the development would also create an estimated 32,000 construction jobs and 14,500 permanent ones, as well as contribute $230 million annually in revenue for the county.
The American Dream project includes 6 million square feet of commercial space, 2,000 hotel rooms, 3.5 million square feet of retail and 1.5 million square feet of entertainment space. The project has received initial approval from Miami-Dade and must now wait for state authorization.
Developers of the American Dream in Florida are also building a similar project in East Rutherford, NJ. Construction there restarted earlier this month after crews stopped work in December, allegedly due to financial issues. Developers recently reported, however, that their lender had released the funds necessary to get the project back up and running and that they would close on a $1.6 billion permanent loan soon.
The American Dream Miami project aims to compete with Disney World for tourist dollars, but another developer is taking a Disney World-style amusement park to the Arizona desert. Florida-based Block Sports Company said its planned 61-acre, $4 billion Dreamport Villages complex in Casa Grande, AZ, would include an extreme sports park, an indoor water park, retail space and a resort. If completed, it would be the first large-scale theme park in Arizona.
