Xanadu Gets Lease Commitments for 48% of 1M-SF Space

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ-Partners Mack-Cali and Mills Corp. signed a land lease for Xanadu, a one-million-sf mixed-use entertainment, sports and retail complex to be completed by 2007 around the existing Meadowlands Sports Complex. During a signing ceremony, Mills CEO Laurence C. Siegel listed the first 23 tenants and their combined commitment to lease 48% of the space that Mills will divide into five themed districts spread over 104 acres.

Using computer animation and a huge screen in a tent outside the Continental Arena, the partners provided a glimpse of how each of the complex’s districts will look. Each district will have a lifestyle theme: Sports, Entertainment, Fashion, Children’s Education, and Food and Home. Mills, an Arlington, VA-based developer and owner of 28 retail and entertainment destinations that 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 most exciting projects ever to come to New Jersey.” Cranford-based Mack-Cali, owner of 30 million sf of office and flex properties and an upscale Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Jersey City waterfront, plans to build a 12-story, full-service hotel with conference facilities in the Xanadu complex after the five entertainment and retail districts open and the infrastructure work is complete. The REIT would follow the hotel with four 440,000-sf office towers on a schedule determined by demand.