Dive Brief:
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Canadian real estate conglomerate Triple Five Group, a specialist in the development of shopping centers and amusement parks, missed an $8.8 million payment on debt tied to American Dream, its experience-rich mall near the Meadowlands in New Jersey, according to a notice to bondholders from U.S. Bank Trust Co.
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The payment was due Aug. 1, and there are insufficient funds in the reserve account previously used to make payments on the $287 million debt, per the notice. The balance on that account is $862.12.
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Neither Triple Five Group nor American Dream immediately returned requests for comment.
Dive Insight:
“Dream” is just not the word for this 3-million-square-foot retail project, which took years to get off the ground and was stymied by the pandemic almost immediately after it finally did.
Its troubles are ongoing. Last year, Triple Five put up equity in Mall of America and other holdings as collateral after defaulting on American Dream’s debt. All told in 2021 the mall lost $60 million.
This year, American Dream nearly missed another bond payment as well. The company submitted a late payment of $13.9 million on June 15, but remained in default until the company paid $315,000 in overdue interest that had accrued, according to other letters to bondholders from U.S. Bank.
The nightmare hasn’t all been financial. This year its “Big Snow” indoor ski slope finally reopened, months after a major fire forced it to shut down just as people were venturing out to have fun thanks to vaccines.
The mall is carrying on, however. Now through Aug. 25, American Dream is holding a series of events, including back-to-school celebrations, dubbed “The Anti-Bummer, End-of-Summer Bash,” involving retailers and its major attractions.
