Barclays Center
 |
This article or section is about a planned or proposed arena. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the arena approaches. |
| Barclays Center | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | Brooklyn, New York, |
| Opened | Fall 2009 (scheduled) |
| Owner | Forest City Enterprises |
| Operator | New Jersey Nets (a Forest City subsidiary) |
| Surface | 22 acres (entire complex) |
| Construction cost | $3.5 billion (entire project) |
| Architect | Frank Gehry |
| Former names | Nets Arena (unoffical) |
| Tenants | |
| New Jersey Nets [1] (NBA) (2009–present) | |
| Capacity | |
| 25,000 (estimated, depending on configuration) | |
The Barclays Center is a proposed sports arena to be built partly on a platform over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-owned Atlantic Yards at Atlantic Avenue in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is part of a proposed $3.5 billion sports arena, business and residential complex. The site is intended to serve as a new home for the New Jersey Nets, currently based at Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The MTA site is 8.3 acres (34,000 m²); the Atlantic Yards project site would be 22 acres (89,000 m²).
The arena, along with the rest of the complex, is a project of Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner, who acquired the Nets in 2004, with the purpose of moving them from New Jersey to this site near the Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street New York City Subway station and the Long Island Rail Road terminus in Brooklyn, one of the most transit-accessible locations in the city. The move would mark the return of major league sports to Brooklyn, which has been absent since the departure of the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 (their proposal for a new stadium at the Atlantic Yards to replace the unprofitable Ebbets Field had been turned down by the city in the past). Ratner's group hopes to have the arena open for the 2009–10 season. It has been discussed that the Barclays Center may be the NBA All-Star Game site in the 2013–2014 season.
Design
Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the arena would host the Nets, along with concerts, conventions and other sporting events, competing with Madison Square Garden and the Prudential Center, which is currently under construction, among other facilities. The arena's roof would feature a park open only to residents of the Atlantic Yards complex, ringed by an open-air running track that doubles as a skating rink in winter with panoramic vistas facing Manhattan year-round.
The arena will also be able to host hockey games with an NHL sized rink. Geographically, Brooklyn is technically in the western part of Long Island, so the possibility of the New York Islanders playing games there (perhaps permanently) certainly exists. The Nets and Islanders shared Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum from 1972 to 1977.
Naming rights
It has been reported that London-based Barclays Bank has agreed to pay the team $400 million over the next 20 years for the naming rights of their future Brooklyn home. On January 18, 2007 it was announced that the arena would be called Barclays Center, becoming the third major league sports venue to be called a center in the NYC metro area. Recently, the future home to the New Jersey Devils hockey team in Newark, New Jersey was named the Prudential Center, and the former home of the Devils, Continental Airlines Arena, changed its name to the Izod Center.[2]
Development controversy
- Main article: Atlantic Yards
Along with most stadium and arena proposals that utilize public money and / or property, the Atlantic Yards project is not without controversy. The development of the project, which is endorsed by the MTA and mayor Michael Bloomberg, has been strongly supported by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and is popular among some Brooklynites. But it has also been opposed by a number of community groups in the area, and New York City Council member Letitia James, who points to the mixed successes of Ratner's previous projects, increased traffic congestion, and what she and her constituents see as the unfair exercise of eminent domain to remove residents for a commercial interest. Advocates of the project have claimed that the area is blighted in defense of using eminent domain, yet the area is in one of the hottest real estate markets in the United States. Roger Green, an early supporter of the project, stated unequivocally that the site is not blighted. The site of the arena was also privately negotiated to be sold to Ratner below the market value. Two opinion polls have shown that most New Yorkers oppose a publicly subsidized arena. The project, as of September 16, 2005, has grown to include 7,300 residential units (4,500 rental apartments, half "affordable," plus 2,800 market-rate condos).
Opposition groups look to the successful cancellation of the similar (but larger in scale) West Side Stadium project that was to have been constructed above the Hudson Yards in Manhattan. This stadium would have become the home for the New York Jets, who instead opted to share a New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey with the New York Giants. The cancellation of West Side Stadium is considered largely responsible for the scuttling of the New York City 2012 Olympic bid, as it would have been the main Olympic stadium had New York City won the bid. Two other stadiums are currently being constructed in New York City: the Mets' Citi Field and the New Yankee Stadium, which has caused a mild public outcry with the public parkland being used for it.
See also
- KeySpan Park, a minor league baseball
stadium in
Coney Island, Brooklyn , opened in 2001 - Richmond County Bank Ballpark, a minor league baseball stadium in St. George, Staten Island, opened in 2001
- Prudential Center, a new arena in Newark, New Jersey for the New Jersey Devils,
- Red Bull Park, a new soccer stadium for the New York Red Bulls, currently under construction, scheduled to open in Spring of 2009
- New Yankee Stadium, a new baseball stadium in The Bronx for the New York Yankees, currently under construction, scheduled to open in Fall of 2009
- Citi Field, a new baseball stadium in Queens for the New York Mets, under construction, scheduled to open in Fall of 2009.
- New Meadowlands Stadium, a new football stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the New York Giants and New York Jets, scheduled to open in 2010.
- West Side Stadium, a failed proposal for a stadium and business complex over the MTA's Hudson Yards
References
- ^ The team name will be changed to either the New York Nets or Brooklyn Nets after the move takes place
- ^ http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=65958
External links
- Barclays Center, official website of the Barclays Center
- Brooklyn Nets vs. The Residents, participatory art project by Tim Hailey
- Bring Basketball to Brooklyn!, official Brooklyn Nets Arena website (under construction)
- Fans for Fair Play, a sports perspective on the Ratner proposal
- Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, a pro-democratic development community group
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
