Plans for the completion of the 3 million-square-foot project include: a glass-domed water park that will remain a balmy 85 degrees year round; a first indoor ski hill in North America, already completed; 200-foot diameter, enclosed capsule observation wheel reminiscent of the London Eye; 26-screen movie theater with an outdoor lounge, previously built; a performing arts theater seating 2,400-3,000 people, mostly built; indoor skating rink; aquarium, bowling alley and golf course; 1.7 million square feet of retail space and 150,000 square feet of dining, restaurants and nightclubs.

Later phases phase would add hotels, a convention center, sports center and additional entertainment venues to bring the project to $3.7 billion and 7.5 million square feet, making it the largest retail/entertainment/amusement/recreation and tourism project under one roof in the world. For decades, Triple Five’s flagship West Edmonton Mall was the largest mall in the world, eclipsed more recently by a number of projects in China.

Triple Five’s marquee US project, the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, also experienced delays in its ground-up development in the 1980s, as a number of entities, including nearby competing retailers, opposed the use of state tax incentives for its funding. Triple Five eventually obtained some funding from Bloomington and brought in a partner, Indianapolis-based Melvin Simon & Associates, the privately held predecessor to Simon Property Group. The two completed the project in 1992, and Triple Five later reacquired the center from Simon.

“We’ve done it once, we’ve done it twice,” said Paul Ghermezian, Triple Five senior VP, said at the May conference. “And we’re going to do it again."