I Feel Cold

The grand opening of our dream land has been pushed off until mid summer 2009. I was always thought that there was no way a 2 million square foot complex could be completed by November, but now that is true, its awful.

Why the delay?

Complex construction for several unique tenants — the project includes an indoor snow dome, a 3,400-seat concert hall and an aquarium — was cited by the developers as the chief cause of the delay.

That was sort of my thought too. Oh and is this confirmation of the aquarium? I'll keep my eyes open.

Turns out that traffic issues also played a role as the railway would not have been ready until Spring 09 anyway.

"Traffic concerns are the No. 1 issue that I am confronted with," said Jim Kirkos, president of the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce. "If the delay allows the roadwork and mass-transit projects to catch up, it's hard for me to look at that as a long-term negative. It's also important that the project gets done right."

Not only will the traffic be bad from the pilgrimages to this wonderful dreamland, but opening in the middle of football season would only make the driving worse.

There is also some thought that the slumping economy could have had some impact on the decision.

"I would say that probably what's happening here is more a sign of the times than it is a sign of Xanadu's problems," said Chuck Lanyard, president of the Goldstein Group, a retail real estate firm in Fair Lawn. "With the economic slowdown that we're experiencing, they probably need more time to bring these anchors in and do some more negotiating."

In addition, they probably want to wait for improved consumer confidence as well as a more aggressive retail industry.

"Everyone expects that the economy is going to turn around midyear [2009]," said Medina, the former state commerce secretary whose office is directly across Route 3 from the Xanadu site. "So, you open up an incredibly beautiful venue in the summer. You make a huge splash. And hopefully you could then have tremendous success that will carry on for the rest of the year."

The bad news for us is that we have to go through another holiday shopping season at the Garden State Plaza, Palisades mall or Willowbrook Mall. What a let down. I can't finish a post on such a negative thought.