While the American Dream megamall's total revenue is outpacing last year, it has a long road to make up for financial losses suffered in 2022.
Developers of the large retail and entertainment complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, posted a loss for 2022 of $254.4 million, according to an annual earnings statement released this week. That loss was far wider than the $59.4 million loss in 2021, according to unaudited annual financial statements on file with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.
American Dream's filings, released about a week after the half-year sales report for 2023, contained no commentary detailing the numbers. Representatives of Triple Five Group, the owner of American Dream, did not respond to a request for more information from CoStar News.
Total expenses for the mall nearly doubled in 2022 over 2021, according to the filings. Most of the increases showed up in financing expenses, with that amount rising from a reported $2 million in 2021 to $189 million in 2022.
In November 2022, lenders led by JPMorgan Chase gave American Dream a four-year extension on repaying $1.7 billion in construction borrowing.
The megamall's owners had to draw on a debt reserve fund to pay interest on $800 million of municipal bonds, backed by fees the mall’s owner gives to bondholders instead of paying property taxes, according to Bloomberg reporting.
The mall generated $249 million in sales from January through June, compared with $193.3 million in the same time last year, according to regulatory filings
Last week, American Dream reported a $55.7 million increase in gross sales during the first half of this year as it mounts a comeback from the fallout of the pandemic and amid disputes over payments relating to its bonds.