State Puts New Requirements on Xanadu

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ-A special panel appointed by the New Jersey DEP and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission issued a 60-page report on the proposed Meadowlands Xanadu project at the Meadowlands Sports Complex here that is at least mildly critical of the co-developers’ plans from an environmental standpoint. The Arlington, VA-based Mills Corp. and the Cranford-based Mack-Cali Realty are the developers.

And if the report’s findings and recommendations are accepted by DEP and the NJMC, both state agencies, it could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the mega project, according to observers. At the moment, the 4.7-million-sf entertainment/retail/office/hotel project slated to rise around the Continental Airlines Arena is carrying a price tag of $1.3 billion.

The report was most critical of the developers’ traffic study, and it recommends that the study be redone to include a wider area. It also recommends that it be expanded to include the impact of the project on the region’s mass transit.