Governor Christie Giving Hundreds of Millions in NJ $$ to Failed Mall Project

Rendering of the now renamed -- and re-funded -- "Xanadu" mail

Our colleague Bob Hennelly over at WNYC has a story reporting that Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who killed an already-in-progress $9 billion transit tunnel under the Hudson River, citing fears of cost overruns, is poised to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in New Jersey funds on a thus far failed mall project.

Also don't miss Bob's terrific, earlier investigative report (also here, co-reported with Michael Grabell of ProPublica) on the so-called "Xanadu" project, documenting how the Port Authority's Board (many of whom had links to the project) approved $200 million for a rail link to the mall.   But as Bob reports, planners expect that most people will still drive to the mall, which will have an energy-guzzling year-round indoor ski-slope, among other services.  That is, if it's completed -- the project has so far stymied four governors and more developers than you can count.

Bob writes of the current developments:

An official close to the deal said the state could provide as much as $400 million in economic development bonds to help the developer complete the $2 billion project. Xanadu was supposed to open before the recession but stalled because of management issues and the economy.

The new developer is Triple Five group, the owners of the Mall of America. The name will be changed to "American Dream@Meadowlands." The official said an announcement had been planned for Thursday but had to be postponed until early next week."

Full story here.