The state of New Jersey yesterday gave Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali Realty the “green light to begin construction” of the Xanadu entertainment complex, “adding to the confusion surrounding one of the state’s prime pieces of real estate,” according to Matthew Futterman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. The move “sets up a showdown that is likely to stir further controversy in the already overheated football stadium negotiations.” Rival developer Hartz Mountain Industries, the Sierra Club, and “perhaps even the Giants may sue as early as today” to stop the $1.3B Xanadu project.
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State Of New Jersey Gives Xanadu Developers
Green Light For Construction |
JOKING AROUND: Jets officials said that an earlier report of an offer to buy Giants Stadium, confirmed by acting New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey, “was a ‘joke’ and never meant to be taken seriously.” Jets counsel Andrew Lee said Jets President Jay Cross “made a tongue-in-cheek remark. He wasn’t making an offer to buy Giants Stadium.” Codey: “I guess the Jets want to get a jump on April Fools’ Day, but this is too serious an issue to engage in fraternity pranks” (STAR-LEDGER, 3/17). NJSEA Chair Carl Goldberg called a report of the proposal “‘tremendously overblown,’ because the topic barely had been mentioned during a meeting last week between” Cross and NJSEA President & CEO George Zoffinger (Bergen RECORD, 3/17).
SMOOTHING IT OVER: In New Jersey, John Brennan notes Goldberg had a meeting with Giants exec Steve Tisch Tuesday. Goldberg: “We were able to clear the air about some of the tensions that have arisen recently.” He added that “talks with the Giants could continue as soon as late next week” (Bergen RECORD, 3/17).
