The North Jersey shopping mall Xanadu got caught in the Great Recession. As the whimsically designed Meadowlands mall was being built in 2008, the economy sputtered. The project developers got worried and cut costs, producing what Gov. Chris Christie called, “the ugliest damn building in New Jersey and maybe America.”

David Jansen, the architect of record, took the abuse for a few years as the project sat empty, waiting for a rescuer. Now he’s broken his silence. Jansen noted that the color grid was supposed to be a background only, mostly covered by digital display screens, cascading lights, pulsating helixes over entrances and extensive landscaping. When the developers cut all the cool and expensive foreground, the design was fundamentally altered.

In an important sign of confidence in the economic recovery, the project now has new owners, a new name and will have a new look. Triple 5, the new owner, also owns the Mall of America in MN and the 5.3 Million SF West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada (the largest mall in North America). They’ve changed the name from Xanadu to The American Dream @ Meadowlands and plan to spend another $1.5B, expanding the mall to 3 Million SF. They plan to add a water park, amusement park, skating rink and rooftop outdoor movie theater. Here’s an interior view.

I think this project provides another sign that the recession has bottomed out and the time to buy and build is now.