2. American Dream
KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images
American Dream, situated in New Jersey’s Meadowlands Sports Complex, is second only to its sister mall, Mall of America, in square footage. Spanning roughly 3 million square feet, American Dream currently houses over 100 stores, including Apple, Saint Laurent, and Saks Fifth Avenue, according to its website.
But the mall bills itself as being more than a shopping destination. American Dream is home to the nation’s largest indoor theme park and largest indoor water park, a giant ferris wheel, indoor mini golf, a mirror maze, an ice rink, indoor skiing, and a wave pool.
American Dream was a multibillion-dollar project more than 20 years in the making, but it opened in October 2019, just months before the pandemic hit and shut down shopping centers across the country. Since then, the mall has struggled to make its debt payments. In early March, the borough of East Rutherford filed suit against the mall’s owner, Triple Five Group, over its refusal to make over $7.5 million in payments.
