EAST RUTHERFORD— Maybe it's nothing more than lipstick on a pig, but New Jersey officials want to see a different face on the exterior of the long-stalled American Dream super mall project before next year's Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium.

The sprawling, unfinished structure once known as Xanadu — just over a football field-length away from MetLife Stadium — will not be completed before the big game next February, developers concede. But with construction slated to finally resume later this year, the state says it is looking for at least a change in the look of the garish and incomplete entertainment and retail complex before guests come to town.

"I would anticipate the construction will start in 2013 and there will be a heavy emphasis on making sure the exterior will look different before the Super Bowl," said real estate executive Jon F. Hanson, who serves as Gov. Chris Christie’s chief adviser on the state’s sports and entertainment industries. "We all want it changed."

With its multicolored outside walls of orange, blue and green — a design that critics complain give it the look of a LEGO block project built of rusting cargo containers — the renamed Xanadu complex has been called "the ugliest building in the world" by Christie.

The highly visible structure, located alongside the New Jersey Turnpike in East Rutherford, has done little good for the state’s image, and the governor has long been looking for better curb appeal before all eyes were focused on the Meadowlands for Super Bowl XLVIII. As a condition for the state’s help in resurrecting the project more than two years ago, Christie wanted the name and façade of Xanadu changed.

Rendering of the proposed American Dream at Meadowlands complex, to be built on the site of the failed Xanadu project.

Triple Five, the Canadian-based real estate company now working to develop the still-idle American Dream project, said it still does not have a firm schedule to restart construction, but anticipates work will start shortly.

"We share the view that changing the exterior façade of the existing building is a priority and have expressed this to state and local government officials," said spokesman Alan Marcus.

At the same time, he said that even unfinished, the building will be made available to event organizers next year for the Super Bowl, depending on construction timetables.

"While American Dream will not be completed in time for the Super Bowl, we do fully intend to be prepared and able to host and support Super Bowl-related events as needed to assist the host committee and others with related Super Bowl needs," he said.

WAITING GAME

Nothing about the project, though, has ever seemed to go as planned.

Conceived as a new anchor for the Meadowlands, the complex has gone through a succession of owners, evolving plans, and gained and lost prospective tenants without ever opening. While privately built, the project was overseen by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.

In 2009, construction was suspended after then-developer Colony Capital and its partners ran into series of financial problems in the wake of the recession. Triple Five, the owner of the Mall of America in Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, signed a letter of intent to take over the project in 2010 and the company outlined a reimagining of an already massive complex — by going even bigger.

Under the plans put forward by Colony Capital, Xanadu was to incorporate an 18-screen movie house, the country’s tallest Ferris wheel, skydiving wind tunnels, a theater and an indoor ski slope, as well as hundreds of retail shops and restaurants.

Taking on the new name of American Dream, Triple Five proposed to expand the footprint. It wanted to add a water park, an indoor skating rink, miniature golf and a major Hollywood studio theme park.

Gov. Christie calls it "the ugliest building in the world" and while the former Xanadu complex will not be ready for the Super Bowl, officials want better curb appeal before the big game.

But despite hopes of the state back in 2010 of getting the complex open by Super Bowl weekend, it has not gone smoothly. Triple Five was forced to work out new permitting requirements, along with a nasty legal dispute with the Giants and Jets about American Dream hours of operation on football game days — which has yet to be settled. It also had to deal with the financing of the project, whose costs has ballooned to $3.7 billion.

Triple Five still does not control the site, and until it settles its dispute with the two football teams that call MetLife Stadium home, it is unlikely to proceed with financing.

Marcus said after Triple Five closes with the existing lenders and takes control of the property, the company should be able to proceed with completing final financing that will allow it to initiate construction.

"There is no specific timetable, but we anticipate work to start very shortly," he predicted.

Hanson believes the turmoil is coming to an end.

"When they get finished, it will be hard to remember what it looked like," he said. "What they will do will change it dramatically."

RELATED COVERAGE

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• American Dream at Meadowlands complex to include animation-inspired theme park

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