Original vision of Triple Give Group’s American Dream Mall awakens

Canadian developer Triple Five Group, whose American Dream Mall is to rise in Northwest Miami-Dade, is still working on the design for a site plan application to deliver to the county in December, returning to its original concept after considering major changes last year.

Over the past year, the developer has been meeting with staff from the county Department of Transportation and Public Works, the county Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources and the Florida Department of Transportation to work on the site plan, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, land use attorney representing the group, told Miami Today.

In September 2021, Mr. Diaz de la Portilla told the newspaper the group was working on the same administrative site plan. At that time, the group was rethinking the design to include more outdoor spaces, but as the pandemic seemed to be ending, the group decided to keep many elements of the original design.

Last year, “we still weren’t completely out of the peak of covid restrictions and limitations,” Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said.

“We were considering more open-air areas and fewer areas under the roof. But since that time, we’re closer back to the original concept of an enclosed model. We still have open-air areas, but we have a significant amount of it under the roof.”

Some 65% of the design will be for entertainment uses and will also have retail components. It still includes an indoor ski park, skating rink, indoor water park, aquarium, submarine rides, gardens, multiscreen luxury theater complex, and arts center for live performances.

Also planned are retailers, restaurants and three hotels at different locations – one of about 300 rooms, one of about 400 and a third with over 900.

“We need to have the administrative site plan approved before we can go on to, for example, building permits to build a project,” he said.

There is still no clear schedule to break ground or complete work. “The project is tied to the turnpike interchange and roadway improvements,” Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said.

Florida’s Turnpike Extension is being widened to 10 lanes between Northwest 106th Street and Interstate 75. The widening is expected to be completed in 2025 for $370 million, according to the turnpike’s website.

The cost of mall completion will be higher than the original $4.5 billion to $5 billion, but Mr. Diaz de la Portilla could not provide a precise figure.

Miami-Dade commissioners voted in 2018 to rezone roughly 174 acres in unincorporated Miami-Dade on vacant land between I-75 and Florida Turnpike’s Homestead Extension for the project.

The mall has had previous delays in planned completion. In 2019 it was expected to open in 2025; before that, the opening was projected for 2023.

The main reason for the delays was the company must comply with several requirements before starting actual construction of the mall, Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said.

Triple Five Group developed West Edmonton Mall in Canada, Mall of America in Minnesota and American Dream Meadowlands in the Greater New York area.

The company defaulted on a $1.2 billion construction loan in 2021 and had to surrender 49% of its equity in Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, and West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, that had been pledged as collateral for the New Jersey mall. The loan is held by JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions.