American Dream, the $5 billion super mall in New Jersey’s Meadowlands, drained a reserve fund to make a bond payment as it struggles to attract shoppers and tenants with the pandemic set to begin its third year, Bloomberg News reported. The 3.5-million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex, which features an indoor ski slope, amusement park and water park, nearly emptied a reserve account to make a $9.3 million payment due Tuesday on about $290 million of debt supported by sales tax receipts, according to a securities filing. About $820 is left in the reserve fund, the filing said. It’s not clear whether American Dream will make its next payment on the securities, due Aug. 1. Failure to make a payment on the sales tax debt doesn’t constitute a default nor require the borrower to pay back the loan immediately, according to bond documents. However, the filing disclosing the reserve draw included a letter from bond servicer Trimont Real Estate Advisors saying American Dream wasn’t complying with obligations under the bond documents to provide updates on project costs and performance. Remedies for the breach “range from specific performance to a special redemption of all the bonds,” the letter said.
