Using computer animation and a huge screen in a tent outside theContinental Arena, the partners provided a glimpse of how each ofthe complex's districts will look. Each district will have alifestyle theme: Sports, Entertainment, Fashion, Children'sEducation, and Food and Home. Mills, an Arlington, VA-baseddeveloper and owner of 28 retail and entertainment destinationsthat generate combined annual sales of more than $6.6 billion,plans to complete and open all five districts at the same time.

Mack-Cali CEO Mitchell E. Hersh called Xanadu "one of the mostexciting projects ever to come to New Jersey." Cranford-basedMack-Cali, owner of 30 million sf of office and flex properties andan upscale Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Jersey City waterfront, plansto build a 12-story, full-service hotel with conference facilitiesin the Xanadu complex after the five entertainment and retaildistricts open and the infrastructure work is complete. The REITwould follow the hotel with four 440,000-sf office towers on aschedule determined by demand.

Sports Authority chairman Carl J. Goldberg said the Xanaducomplex would generate 20,000 permanent jobs for residents aroundthe region but acknowledged that the project has generated itsshare of detractors. The objectors include Hartz MountainIndustries, which has filed a lawsuit challenging the award of thedevelopment rights to Mills and Mack-Cali. "In the spring of 2007,when the new facilities open, a transformation will take place,"Goldberg said.