Remember all those scenes in Netflix’s 1980s sci-fi series “Stranger Things” set at Starcourt, the riotously colorful, brightly lit new mall filled with fun for all ages? It may seem those glory days are over — Credit Suisse predicted a couple of years back that 20 to 25 percent of the country’s remaining malls will close by 2022.
But American Dream — a $5.7 billion, 3 million-square-foot retail and entertainment fantasia near New Jersey’s Meadowlands — is bucking the trend. Its first stage opened Oct. 25 with the debut of the Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park, plus an NHL-regulation-size ice rink; Nov. 27 brings the launch of the world’s second-largest indoor water park, created with DreamWorks; and North America’s only indoor ski park with real snow lands Dec. 5. Come March, 350-plus shops will arrive, ranging from Hermès to H&M, Moncler to Primark, as well as 100 dining outlets, an aquarium, a Legoland Discovery Center and a 300-foot-tall London Eye-style observation wheel with views of the Big Apple.
The ringmaster of the extravaganza is Ken Downing, recently appointed chief creative officer of Triple Five Group (the developer behind Minnesota’s Mall of America).
Until this spring, Downing was the longtime fashion director of Neiman Marcus — whose own gleaming, first-ever Big Apple flagship debuted in March at Hudson Yards, another retail mecca pulling the nails out of the mall’s coffin.
Joining the American Dream team was about “far more than developing a mall,” Downing tells Alexa. “We’re taking the ‘m’ out of ‘mall’ and created an ‘all,’ a welcoming community for everyone. American Dream is a one-of-a-kind property that will reshape the way people think, look and interact with entertainment, theme parks, shopping and dining.”
A big part of that reshaping has to do with American Dream’s sleekly innovative look, which he says features “unexpected surprises of city gardens, site-specific art and more” — not least the water-park cabanas created by tastemaker (and New Jersey native) Jonathan Adler.
Some of the biggest “wow” moments will come in the complex’s six sunlight-filled atriums. One, a secret garden, will change from season to season and offer winding stone paths, bird-filled aviaries and fields where rabbits roam; another centers on a 55-foot-tall LED Northern Red Oak — New Jersey’s state tree — whose 25,000 leaves change color when you touch them.
“Around every corner there’s something new and exciting for our visitors to discover,” Downing says. “There will be a rotating roster of new retail experiences popping up, with innovative and compelling activations that will keep people returning again and again.
“Both our customer community and the industry have their eyes on this incredible global destination,” he continues. “We cannot wait for people to experience American Dream.”