Officials Estimate Xanadu May Not Open Until Sometime Next Year

Financing Problems Hindering Xanadu's Opening

Financing problems "continue to plague" the Xanadu mixed-use development at the Meadowlands, with officials "now projecting the long-delayed project will not open until sometime next year at the earliest," according to Ted Sherman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. New Jersey officials plan to meet with the developers next week and "say they remain optimistic the lending problems will be resolved, but concede a temporary shutdown of the massive project still remains a scenario under consideration." The project was "initially scheduled to be completed last November, but was pushed back to this summer as the slumping economy worsened." NJSEA Chair Carl Goldberg: "This project is too far along and too large for it not to be completed and open." Goldberg said that while there has been "substantially less construction work going on in recent months," the project "has not come to a halt." Xanadu officials "still maintain that more than 70[%] of the shopping and entertainment complex has been rented, but would not provide a target date for the opening of the mall" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 5/21).