This story was originally published June 2018.

If you've lived in or come anywhere near New Jersey anytime this century, you've heard of it. The American Dream mall -- formerly known as Xanadu.

Over the last 16 years the mega development in the Meadowlands has been plagued by money problems and lawsuits.

But, the last few years have brought renewed hope that it might actually open one day. The mall's current (and third) developer, Triple Five, seems to be maintaining momentum on construction at the 3-million-square foot retail and entertainment complex.

The target date, for a spring 2019 opening, has intrigued many -- and evoked skepticism.

We can only watch and wait.

John O'Boyle | The Star Ledger

2002

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority asks for proposals to redevelop 162 acres of the 700-acre Meadowlands Sports Complex in June 2002 -- 104 acres that surrounded the former Continental Arena and 62 acres on which the arena and its parking lot sit -- into a multi-use complex with dining, entertainment, retail, hotel, office, exposition, recreation, parking and transportation. There's one caveat: it can't compete with the then-proposed Prudential Center in Newark, which would get the concert and sports billings that had graced Continental Arena.

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teterboro-online.com

2003

Triple Five's Meadowfest pitch failed to make it into the top three proposals selected in the fall of 2002 by the NJSEA. Instead, it picked Mills Corp., Hartz Mountain Industries and Westfield Group -- before handing the project to Mills Corp. for its $1.2 billion Xanadu proposal. An agreement was signed in December 2003 for Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali Realty Corp. to pay $160 million in development rights fees to the NJSEA when the permits and approvals were in place.

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Xanadu

Xanadu was expected to open about two years after ground was broken on the project and feature 2.6 million square feet of retail and entertainment -- including an indoor Alpine ski resort, an indoor mini Formula One style raceway, minor league baseball stadium, an extreme sports park, a movie palace and a small-format live entertainment venue -- to be developed by Mills Corp.

Mack-Cali was to contribute 2.2 million square feet of office and hotel space inside a 14-story building. It would include 440,000 square feet of class A office space and a 520-room hotel with conference areas.

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file photo

2004

Mills and Mack-Cali held a star-studded gala where they signed a $160 million, 75-year lease for the Meadowlands. Meanwhile, lawsuits are being lobbed by Hartz Mountain, the borough of Carlstadt, the Sierra Club of New Jersey and the New Jersey Builders Association. Still, the developers announced 23 initial tenants.

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Bob Sciarrino | The Star-Ledger

2005

Construction began in March 2005 on Xanadu -- the 4.8-million-square foot retail, entertainment, sports, office and hotel complex -- that will span 96 acres and cost $2 billion. Mills and Mack-Cali target a 2007 opening date.

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2006

Colony Capital takes over Xanadu from the ailing Mills Corp. for $500 million and a promise to get a construction loan to finish the build-out of the mega-mall. Mills stays on as a minority partner. It had already $485 million into the project.

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2007

The New York Jets and Giants broke ground Sept. 5 on a new $1.3 billion stadium. Their lease gave them veto power over expansion at the Meadowlands.

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2008

Pepsi agreed to pay $100 million for a 10-year sponsorship of a London-eye style ferris wheel that was to tower 287 feet. With 26 glass enclosed, climate controlled gondolas, the ride would take up to 20 people on a 25-minute journey with views of New York City. Locals called it an eyesore.

(In its current iteration, the ferris wheel is no longer branded by the soft drink maker. It's expected to be 235 feet in diameter and has 26 gondolas.)

The colorfully gaudy exterior of Xanadu began to draw criticism.

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2009

Construction stopped when the Lehman Brothers subsidiary cut off financing for the project.

Train service began to the Meadowlands Station bringing passengers from the Secaucus station to the nearly-opened MetLife stadium.

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2010

Bankers on the project took control of Xanadu in August 2010 when an affiliate of bankrupt Lehman Brothers, Mezz Holdings, stopped providing construction funding to Colony Capital.

The new football stadium was named the host of Super Bowl XLVII.

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Myles Ma

2011

Triple Five, owners of the Mall of America, acquired Xanadu from the group of lenders who owned the debt. They promised to tone down the facade of what Gov. Chris Christie called "the ugliest damn building in New Jersey and maybe America" and the developer renamed the mega-mall American Dream.

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Triple Five

2012

DreamWorks announced it will build a theme park at American Dream.

The New York Giants and Jets sued Triple Five seeking an injunction on the project because the developer did not get their permission to expand the mall's footprint. Triple Five countersued, saying the development would ease game day traffic because it wold give attendees a place to go after the game rather than everyone exiting onto the highway.

Talk began about the mall likely not being finished by the Super Bowl at Meadowlands.

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Andrew Mills | The Star-Ledger

2013

The NJSEA approved Triple Five's plan to expand the development to add amusement and waterparks.

The developer admitted the mega-mall wouldn't be done in time for Super Bowl XLVIII.

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Only in NJ would a mall be considered the American Dream. — Deborah Howlett (@DebHowlett) May 3, 2011

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2014

The New York Giants and Jets settled their lawsuit with Triple Five over traffic concerns the sports franchises feared would deter fans from attending games. Terms are kept secret.

Triple Five signed an agreement with the Bergen County Building and Construction Trades Council to resume the long-stalled project. It also said finishing the project will cost $2 billion, on top of the roughly $2 billion the two previous developers put into it.

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2015

Work on the mega-mall finally began again after a six year stoppage.

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2016

A court ruling allowed the NJSEA to issue $1.15 billion in bonds to help finish the American Dream after a challenge from the New Jersey Alliance for Fiscal Integrity. The bondholders will be repaid through up to $390 million in sales tax revenue from the megamall and a payment in lieu of taxes.

Triple Five unveiled its design plan for the much maligned complex. Work on the project stopped again in December as the bond sale is delayed.

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2017

Construction resumed after more than $1.15 billion in bonds and $1.6 billion in private financing was secured by Triple Five.

The developer announced a pair of world-record roller coasters will be part of the development.

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Triple Five

2018

As of June, spokespeople for Triple Five said construction was progressing at $3 million per day with about 1,500 workers on site and work is about 60 percent complete.

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2019

Waterslides are protruding from the side of what will be the DreamWorks waterpark and rollercoaster tracks were visible inside the planned Nickelodeon-themed amusement park, but the developer has not released any new information in months -- including whether the project will open this spring, as planned.

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Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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