The proposals are diverse enough to give the NJSEA plenty of options, perhaps even combining two or more of them. The whole thing is contingent, of course, on the Nets and Devils vacating the Continental Airlines Arena – and when.
The proposals include "Expo Park," offered by Hartz Mountain Industries of Secaucus, NJ and Forest City Ratner. Totaling over four million sf, it would cost more than $800 million and include a 500,000-sf convention center, two hotels and four office buildings.
"We're encouraged that the process is moving forward," Emanuel Stern, Hartz's president/COO, tells GlobeSt.com. "We've spent a long time thinking about the right components and feel that our plan clearly understands all the regional issues. Our concern is for something that gives the region the greatest economic bang for the buck without detracting from existing centers of commerce."
The second proposal, named "Xanadu" by the Mills Corp. and Cranford, NJ-based Mack-Cali Realty, is a 4.7 million-sf, $1.2 million project that would include a hotel, four office buildings and a package of attractions anchored by an ESPN Extreme Sports Park.
Two proposals would involve auto racing facilities. Local developer Morton Salkind's "Liberty Speedway" would include a 1.35-mile track and a 22-story hotel costing about $450 million. And International Speedway Corp., the development arm of NASCAR, wants to build a 3/4-mile track plus a hotel and an office building at a cost of $1.5 billion.
"MeadowFest," Triple Five Group's entry, meanwhile, would be a far cry from its West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Mall of America in Minnesota, the two largest shopping centers in the world. The Edmonton-based company would take the existing arena and convert it into a combination of a 5,000-seat theater, children's zoo and museum. The cost would be a relatively modest $40 million.
Finally, shopping center developer The Westfield Group checked in with a $1 billion proposal to create an "urban village." Well over three million sf, it would combine an entertainment complex with at least three hotels and several office buildings.
If all goes as planned NJSEA officials want to have a developer or tandem of developers in place by year's end. At that point, the whole matter still depends on a new arena for Newark.
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