THE London Eye is set to roll into the Big Apple. Merlin Entertainments, the firm behind the Eye, has clinched a deal to operate a giant wheel at a new retail and leisure complex just outside Manhattan.

Merlin, which also owns Madame Tussauds and Legoland, will open the Pepsi Globe in December at the new Meadowlands Xanadu in New Jersey.

The development will be adjacent to the Giants Stadium, home of the New York Giants American football team.

Merlin is also building a Lego-themed indoor attraction, called Legoland Discovery Centre, at the new complex, which will have shops, an indoor skiing centre and a multiplex cinema.

Nick Varney, chief executive of Merlin, which also owns the London Dungeon, said the scale of the Meadowlands project was “staggering” and predicted the Globe would become an “iconic” attraction, offering views of the Manhattan skyline as well as into the Giants Stadium.

“It will be like building one next to Wembley or Twicken-ham,” he said. He added that the Globe would be around two-thirds the size of the London Eye but that it would still be the biggest attraction of its kind in North America.

Varney has identified America as a key growth market and is opening a number of attractions there over the next two years.

These include a new Tussauds in Hollywood to complement the existing venues in New York, Washington and Las Vegas. The first American Legoland Discovery Centre will open in Chicago, with the Meadowlands site to follow next year.

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