Triple Five, the operator of the American Dream Meadowlands shopping and entertainment project, would be eager to submit its own proposal for a North Jersey casino should the opportunity arise, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Monday.
A Triple Five spokeswoman declined to comment. But in September, Don Ghermezian, the company’s chief operating officer, told The Record that a casino at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, where American Dream is located, would give tourists “another reason to stay in New Jersey and spend money in New Jersey.”
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Ghermezian added at the time that Triple Five’s West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada — the largest mall in North America — has a casino and that it is being expanded from 70, 000 to 125, 000 square feet.
“It’s an incredibly successful casino inside the shopping center, ” said Ghermezian, whose family-owned business also operates the Mall of America in Minnesota.
Sweeney’s comments, which a spokesman later confirmed, came in an exchange with reporters on Monday that was first reported by Politico. He has acknowledged the extensive publicity over the past year about expected casino bids from Jeff Gural — who runs the Meadowlands track and who has a partnership with Hard Rock International — as well as a multi-billion dollar plan being floated by a former Reebok chief executive, Paul Fireman, adjacent to his Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City.
