Since late April, representatives of Mills Corporation – the hopeful developers of what could be the largest mall in New Jersey – have been conducting a quiet inquiry about whether to move the project from a proposed tract of wetlands in the Hackensack Meadowlands to the New Jersey Sports Complex. Meanwhile, they’re awaiting a ruling from the Army Corps of Engineers to fill 206 acres of wetlands.
Local officials have expressed concern over the impact the project would have on existing traditional business areas, and local environmentalists have labeled the Mills megamall as the biggest threat to the Hackensack Meadowlands, noting that the 200 acre fill is the largest in the country since the passing of the Clean Water Act in 1972.
The Meadowlands Mall, slated for a piece of land called “The Empire Tract” in Carlstadt, is a 2.1 million square foot shopping and entertainment complex designed to draw in customers within 200 miles and serve as a tourist destination. The project also has 2.2 million square feet of office space and a 1,000 room hotel.
The Empire Tract is a 587-acre site that lies near the center of the Meadowlands and functions as a corridor between the northern and southern portions of the Meadowlands wetlands complex, and includes numerous wildlife habitats that environmentalists claim would be negatively affected if the project were to move ahead.
Pressure by environmentalists to keep the Mills Corporation from filling in wetlands has caused the company to seek an alternative site for possible development. Several years ago, another mall project was proposed for the Sports Complex and arena. When this project failed to materialize, many people began to speculate on what might happen if Mills moved its currently proposed mall to the Sports Complex property. Indeed, in 2001, then Acting Gov. Governor Donald T. DiFrancesco asked Mills to relocate the proposed Carlstadt mall to another site.
In late April 2002, Mills representatives began to reach out privately to various parties involved in the Meadowlands. MWW, the Lyndhurst firm hired to represent the Mills project, invited Hackensack Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan into their offices seeking his support for the move.
“We had lunch with their top attorneys,” Sheehan said. “They told me we were right all along that they recognized the ecological damage their project would do if done as proposed.”
According to Sheehan and several other sources, Mills has proposed relocating the project to space now occupied by the Continental sports arena parking lot. Numerous calls to MWW to obtain comment were not returned.
But representatives of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority – who put out a Request for Proposals to have the arena site developed – said they have had no talks with Mills about the project. “We have listened to no individual proposals,” a spokesperson for the Sport Authority said when called for comment.
Sheehan said, however, that Mills has offered to lease the parking lot from the state for $20 million a year for 99 years.
According to Sheehan and others who had been presented the plans for their approval, the Virginia-based Mills would spend up to $1 billion to help turn the parking area into a mixed use development, which would surround the existing arena – if the state chooses to keep the facility as it is. The project would include a convention center – something Gov. James McGreevey promised for the Meadowlands area – office towers, an entertainment and retail mall and a hotel.
“We were told that the project would be constructed in phases,” Sheehan said. “The first phase would construct two parking structures over the existing Route 120 to make up for the loss of parking by Mills developing on the arena’s parking lot.”
These parking decks would provide for about 5,000 parking spaces in total.
Although state officials are pushing to get an arena constructed in Newark that would accommodate the Nets and Devils – something that State Senator Bernard Kenny (D-33rd Dist.) said would happen – Mills, Sheehan said, would be able to build even if the teams stay in the Meadowlands.
If the Sports Authority awards the project to Mills, the Empire tract would likely be donated for environmental preservation, a carrot that Mills has dangled before several environmental groups hoping to win their endorsement for the change of location. Mills, however, has not withdrawn its application before the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission for the original Empire tract.
Mall could have negative impact on area retail
State officials from Hudson County, however, have set themselves against the development in either location. The Mills project – which would dwarf most existing malls – has raised the fears of some Hudson County officials who fear the mall will hurt traditional business districts.
Since the mall would include a variety of outlets and retail stores similar to those already available in Secaucus, such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and The Sports Authority, as well as a variety of stores typical of other area malls such as Marshals, Burlington Coat Factory and Daffy’s, local officials believe the mall could drive out mom and pop stores and outlets.
The mall’s construction has impact in several significant areas. Proponents of the mall claim it will provide thousands of temporary jobs during construction and additional more permanent jobs when the mall is opened for business. The project is expected to create 7,000 temporary construction jobs and 12,000 permanent jobs.
But according to Assembly Speaker Albio Sires (D-33rd Dist.) the project would devastate the downtown districts throughout Hudson County.
“I have no problem with the Nets and Devils moving to Newark,” Sires said. “But I am concerned about the impact of a mall in the Meadowlands would have on retail in Hudson County. It would be a disaster for small mom-and-pop stores along places like Bergenline Avenue. Therefore I can’t support the mall. We are talking about a whole way of life that would be destroyed.”
Senator Kenny said that he and Sires had met with the governor and intended to attend public hearings in Trenton on July 11 that would discuss possible uses for the Sport Complex.
“Speaker Sires and I have strong concerns regarding the issues,” Kenny said. “We have asked for public hearings to be held in Bergen and Hudson counties in the upcoming weeks.”
Kenny said the Trenton hearings would not focus exclusively on the Mills Mall, but an overall vision of what should be constructed on the site.
“It is important that whatever gets built there provides an economic stimulus to the region,” he said. “If it has an adverse effect on Hudson or Bergen counties then I will oppose it.”
Sires said his talk with Gov. McGreevey had given him hope.
“The governor said no mega mall was going to be built there,” Sires said.
Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell also expressed concerns over the mall, saying that he would have to look very carefully at the impact since many of the stores proposed in the original Empire tract mall would have competed directly with outlets currently doing business in Secaucus.
“I’m not against developing something there,” he said. “But I have to be concerned about such a project hurting taxpayers in Secaucus, and the outlets are taxpayers here.”
Army Corps issued preliminary ruling
In late June, the Army Corps released part of its ruling on the use of the Empire tract, complicating the issue. The Corps did not immediately reject Mill’s original proposal, leaving the door open so that Mills could indeed build the project as first envisioned.
In the press release, Mills spokesman David D’Onofrio said the company is gratified that, after five years of study, the Corps concluded in June that “the project will not have a significant effect on water quality, air quality, and, in general, wildlife.”
Sheehan, however, said the two-inch thick Army Corps report was not an approval of the project, since the Corps pointed to possible flaws in Mills’ wetlands restoration plan. Under the Clean Water Act of 1972 and other state laws, any developer that has approval to fill wetlands must restore wetlands elsewhere.
“This was not the environmental impact statement everybody is waiting for,” Sheehan said. “This is a preliminary document. It does not say yes or no to the project. What it means is that the Army is waiting for the state of New Jersey to finish with the politics in the Meadowlands before it makes a decision.”
Sheehan said state officials had assured him that no permit would be issued to fill the wetlands even if the Army Corps gives the project its blessing.
“The Army Corps’ approval is only good if the state issues a permit,” Sheehan said, noting that Mills can use the Army Corps preliminary document as leverage. “They can threaten to build the original mall so that the state will compromise and let them build near the arena instead.”