A massive new convention center and hotel in the New Jersey Meadowlands could cost more than $2.1 billion, but the project would generate far more than that for the local economy, supporters said on Friday.
The proposal Friday by the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce would replace the now-moribund arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex and complete the “modernization” of the state-owned site that has been going on for more than a decade with MetLife Stadium and the American Dream megamall, according to a 181-page feasibility study released Friday.
The proposal would give northern and central New Jersey the “state-of-the-art convention center” the area lacks, said James Hughes…who wasn’t involved in the study.
“Spaces have been used for events, but there’s nothing comparable to what a 21st-century conference center would be,” he said. “There’s really a void.”
“The opposition potentially would be in Atlantic City, because that’s sort of the premier, high-quality convention center, and a lot of organizations continually use that each year,” Hughes added.
James W. Hughes is Dean Emeritus of the Bloustein School