It’s unknown when Meadowlands Xanadu will open its doors to its first customers.

The hopes of finishing the infamous $ 2-billion Meadowlands Xanadu development, as financial backers to Colony Capital have stepped to complete and open the vast retail complex and North America’s first indoor snow slope.

Credit Suisse Group AG are among the projects creditors who have now taken direct control of the project which is also involved in several other troubled ski resort developments including the Tamarack resort in Idaho and the private Yellowstone resort in Montana; and the Fortress Investment Group which owns Intrawest which owns several major ski resorts including Tremblant and Whistler in Canada.

The long and very troubled history of the development, named Xanadu since the project broke ground in 2003, changed hands after Mills Corporation threw in the towel in 2007 following the start of the global economic slowdown. Colony Capital then took over the project but their own development plans were thwarted by the collapse of lenders like Lehman Brothers.

The creditor group are now looking for a developer to complete the complex by 2013 including re-doping an unpopular multi-coloured exterior facade.

The ski slope aspect of the facility has been completed for several years with work carried out by British company Acer Snowmec who worked on previous Mills projects as well as high-profile indoor snow centres like Ski Dubai. Snow is believed to have been made in the facility at least once but it is unclear whether anyone has actually managed to ski indoors in the US so far and how soon the general public will be able to.

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