Triple Five Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Edmonton, Alberta, which specializes in shopping centres, entertainment complexes, hotels, and banks, along with running three indoor amusement parks. The company owns and operates two of North America's largest malls, the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta and the Mall of America in Minnesota, both of which contain a wide variety of entertainment attractions alongside traditional retail. The company also owns the American Dream Meadowlands, which opened at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey on October 25, 2019.
History
Early years (1965–1981) Germez Developments was founded by Jacob Ghermezian in 1965, and his family, the Iranian-Canadian Jewish Ghermezian family, remains the owners and operators of the company today. Jacob's four sons were the core of the business, and after them the brothers' children have begun to take leadership roles in the company, including CEO Don Ghermezian and Braze founder Mark Ghermezian.
In the mid-1970s, Germez Developments was involved in land speculation on the outskirts of Edmonton. The province of Alberta established "restricted development areas" (RDAs) encircling Edmonton and Calgary in 1974, and two years later announced that the areas would be used as "transportation and utility corridors". Germez was one of several companies that bought up large parts of the RDA ring around Edmonton, paying higher prices to rural landowners than the government was willing to offer. Despite not being allowed to develop the land, Germez dramatically raised its prices before selling its parcels back to the government. The Ghermezians made an $18 million profit when the Albertan government purchased the land in 1979, and much of that profit was used to finance their first retail project, the West Edmonton Mall.
Entering retail (1981–1992)
The Ghermezians began developing the West Edmonton Mall in 1974. Early in the development process, Raphael Ghermezian was faced with allegations of attempted bribery towards an alderman on the Edmonton city council. Eskandar Ghermezian retaliated with accusations of favor-seeking against the son of another Edmonton alderman. The first phase of the mall was completed in 1981, and Triple Five immediately began further construction for a second phase which opened in 1983 and a third in 1985. These expansions brought the West Edmonton Mall from the largest in Canada to the largest in the world.
In addition to building the West Edmonton Mall, Triple Five also developed the Eaton's Centre mall and mixed-use development in downtown Edmonton, which began development in 1980 and opened in 1986. The Ghermezians held a 50% stake in the complex, alongside Confederation Life Insurance, which bought Triple Five's share of the development for $1 in 1991.
In 1985, Triple Five created Peoples Trust, a bank and trust company whose first branch was located in their West Edmonton Mall. When Peoples Trust opened, its primary focus was on residential mortgages and guaranteed investments. Today, there are branches across Canada, and the bank offers several other services, including mortgages for care facilities and other commercial properties, and prepaid credit cards.
After the demolition of the Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, in 1985, the Ghermezian brothers approached the Bloomington Port Authority with a proposal for their second mall, which would be larger than West Edmonton Mall was at the time. The project was quickly approved, and ultimately became the Mall of America, which has remained the largest mall in the United States since it opened in 1992.
Searching for a third project (1986–2011)
Triple Five announced its plans in 1986 to build its third major project, considering Toronto, Montreal, and Niagara Falls, New York as possible locations. Montreal was dropped from consideration soon after, pitting the other two cities against each other for a project that was then dubbed "Fantasyworld". In the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, the first proposed location was rejected and the project was ultimately dropped. In Niagara Falls, the state of New York offered $400 million in subsidies to build Fantasyworld. The state later canceled its offer after deciding that the project was unlikely to be completed while Triple Five was preoccupied with building the Mall of America.