While Brooklyn Heights is now freaking out over potentially 2,500 people filling its streets when a new Fieldhouse comes to Brooklyn Bridge Park, residents around the Atlantic Yards have been freaking for ages now about the 18,000 people expected to flood the area when the Nets start playing the Barclays Center this fall. And for them, there is good news today! The arena will initially have less parking than originally planned.
Barclays Center To Initially Have Half The Parking It Promised
Leonard Cohen To Take His Waltz To MSG And Barclays Center
The man born with the gift of a golden voice is finally coming to town: Leonard Cohen announced new dates for his current Old Ideas 2012 tour, including two nights in NYC. Cohen will finish up the tour with a show on December 18th at Madison Square Garden, and on December 20th at the newly-opened Barclays Center. It's just like his song said it would be: first we take Manhattan, then we take Brooklyn.
Photos: A Sneak Peek Of Barclays Center, Inside And Out
This morning, after hearing about the 2,000 jobs promised by the new Barclays Center arena, we turned our camera away from Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner and the rest of the gang and focused instead on the vast arena behind them. Click through and check out what will soon be the Brooklyn Nets new home, and see how the $1 billion dollar building compares to the previously released renderings.
Step Inside The Barclays Center, Where Mayor Bloomberg Promises Local Jobs
"I've been looking forward to this day for eight years," Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner told a crowd of reporters today from inside the increasingly completed Barclays Center arena. In particular Ratner, flanked by Mayor Bloomberg and Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz, claims to have been looking forward to announcing that the facility was finally going to start living up to its promises of jobs for Brooklyn since "jobs are what it is about." Yup, they really are going to try and hire local, everybody.
Is This The New Brooklyn Nets Logo?
With their exit from New Jersey just a day old, a photograph has been circulating of what could be the new Brooklyn Nets' logo. It seems that someone Tweeted the image and noted that he was working at the Barclays Center. Well, it does fit into the shield silhouette shown on the Nets website yesterday and that blue tape does look like carpenter's tape!
Photos: Nets End 35 Years In NJ The Only Way They Know How—With A Loss
Last night, the New Jersey Nets finished out their Garden State era with a 105-87 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Philly led the entire time; the Nets came within a 1 point of the Sixers in the third quarter, but then the 76ers went on a run.
Barclays Booze Jumps One Community Board Hurdle
Your already very high chances of being able to sip a beer while watching the Nets in Brooklyn just got a little better. After the contentious two-and-a-half hour joint Community Boards 2 and 6 meeting on Tuesday night, the full Community Board 2 met last night and, according to The Local, approved the plan 33-0. With some stipulations, of course.
Locals Fear Nets Arena Liquor License Will Cause "More Dead Cyclists And Pedestrians"
Last night Community Boards 2 and 6 in Brooklyn held a joint meeting to discuss the liquor license for the Barclays Center over the Atlantic Yards. And, as with everything regarding the future home of the Nets, it was a long slog. The meeting took two-and-a-half hours and ended with little resolution—despite the fact that nobody seriously thinks the State Liquor Authority is going to reject the application.
Locals Fight Barclays Center Liquor License, Fearing Puking, Peeing Nets Fans
Residents of the neighborhood surrounding the Barclays Center plan to fight the arena's liquor license application at a special Community Board meeting tomorrow night, where Barclays reps will appear to answer questions about their application. Thus far the arena has not provided any details about how they'll handle crowd control outside the venue, which will unleash thousands of inebriated Nets fans upon Prospect Heights, Park Slope, and Downtown Brooklyn.
Barclays Center Will Sell Bottled "Brooklyn Water" Imported From Florida
This is too perfect: When the controversial Barclays Center opens in Brooklyn, the arena will serve "Brooklyn Water," which is produced in Florida. Norman Oder, a longstanding opponent of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, writes on Grub Street that even though Ratner has made a big deal about seeking Brooklyn-based vendors for the arena, the water will be shipped up from Florida, where it's "created" (as the company puts it) in a bottling plant called Brooklyn Water Enterprises Inc.
Photo: "The Dodger Dome" That Could Have Kept The Baseball Team In Brooklyn
Yesterday we revisited Buckminster Fuller's plan to put a dome over some of Manhattan in 1960, but four years prior to that proposal, he had a similar one for Brooklyn. In this 1956 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, they exclusively showed a rendering from Fuller for a new domed stadium for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
NYPD Precincts Fight For Right To Police Barclays Center, With Park Slope Winning
Two Brooklyn precincts have been vying for the right to police the still-under-construction Barclays Center when it opens in Prospect Heights this year, and now the Post reports that one has emerged victorious and won all the precious overtime that will inevitably ensue. The arena is in the boundaries of the 88th Precinct, but if the Post is correct, the 78th Precinct will actually be responsible for policing it. That's because the 78th's station house is much closer to the arena than the 88th's, which is over in Fort Greene. Nevertheless, some people in Fort Greene—and not just cops—are a tad disgruntled about the decision.
Smorgasburg Meets Backboard? Barclays Center Has High Local Food Hopes
Now that the Barclays Center over at the Atlantic Yards is getting closer to its debut Jay Z concert, developer Bruce Ratner is getting serious about the venue's food. Though he went with Atlanta-based Coke to be the official soda (over hometown sugar water seller Pepsi) he says they want Brooklyn food vendors to feed the hoped for teeming masses. Finally, some of those Brooklyn-friendly jobs the project promised?
Islanders To Play In Brooklyn! For One Game
GOAL! The rumors were (sort of) true! Hockey is really coming to Brooklyn...for at least one game. Yup, despite concerns that the Barclays Center was too small for regulation hockey, the much-maligned Atlantic Yards stadium has announced that on October 2, 2012 the Islanders are going to play the New Jersey Devils. In Brooklyn!
Atlantic Yards Not Nearly As Brooklyn Job-Friendly As Claimed
You guys are never going to believe this, but remember when Forrest City Ratner kept telling us that its Atlantic Yards Project would bring thousands of jobs and units of affordable housing to Brooklyn? They lied! Not only are there fewer (prefab) buildings going up than initially promised, but the steadily rising stadium, now known as the Barclay's center, has been a disappointment jobs-wise, too.
Andrea Boccelli Will Sing At Barclays Center Instead Of MSG
Following in the footsteps of Jay-Z, famous Italian tenor Andrea Boccelli will sing at the Barclays Center next year. And the Post notes it's quite the coup for the under-construction arena, since Boccelli had been performing his annual holiday show at Madison Square Garden. Bocelli said in a statement, "It’s always a pleasure for me to play in New York, but I’m particularly excited to perform in Brooklyn for what will be my only 2012 performance in the city that has given me such affection."
Elite Horse Competition Will Slum It In Brooklyn
You know what "edgy" Brooklyn needs? Rich people who ride pretty horses at exclusive champagne-fueled events. Fortunately, the Gucci Masters horse-jumping competition is coming to the Barclays Center in 2013, and organizers are using the opportunity to trot out as many trite Brooklyn cliches they can think of.
The Time Jay-Z Posed With Marty Markowitz And Bruce Ratner
The newly rechristened Brooklyn Nets are really serious about using Jay-Z as the face of their brand while the Barclays Center continues to rise over the Atlantic Yards. And you know what that means? Stupendously fantastic photo ops, like the one above. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (or whoever runs his Facebook page) captioned this "'Looking up' to Jay-Z (along with Bruce Ratner) outside Barclays Center" but we suspect that you can do better. Have at it in the comments!
Jay-Z Will Christen The Brooklyn Nets' Barclays Center With Concerts
When the New Jersey Nets make their move to Brooklyn they will, assuming the NBA has another season, be changing their name. But to what? All signs point to The Brooklyn Nets. So if you were hoping to root for the Brooklyn New Yorkers, tough luck. On the plus side, the rumors appear to be true: when the new Barclays Center opens its bland interior to the public next year it will kick things off with a series of Jay-Z concerts. And, according to sources, a post-baby Beyonce is expected to perform at at least one of his shows.
NHL Chats Up Barclays Center But Is Mum On Moving Islanders
Hey, those rumors that the Islanders, our local soon to be stadium-less hockey team, might be coming to Brooklyn may have an ounce of truth to them. Now that the team won't have a new arena in Nassau to kick around people have been wondering if the Islanders would make a move to join the Nets at the opening-soon-enough Barclays Center over the Atlantic Yards. And it does seem that they are interested! Over the weekend Newsday confirmed that Bruce Ratner and Nets CEO Brett Yormark met with NHL officials at the league offices in Manhattan last week.
Coke Will Make Special Sodas For The New Nets Arena
New York might be the headquarters of Pepsi, but don't expect to find any at the new Barclays Center when it opens over the Atlantic Yards in September 2012. Not one drop. The stadium has canceled its previous deal with the smaller Jones Soda company in exchange for a multimillion-dollar deal with the Atlanta-based soda giant.
Islanders Owner "Heartbroken" After Nassau County Says No To $400 Million Hockey Arena
Yesterday, the Nassau County voters that did show up to cast ballots on whether to give $400 million of tax-payer money to build a new hockey arena (which would also have a minor league ballpark and convention space) for the Islanders. The vote was 57% to 43% against the plan, which would have replaced the aging Nassau Coliseum, and Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said, "The people of Nassau County have spoken and I can take joy in knowing that we celebrated democracy today." However, Islanders owner, billionaire Charles Wang, said, "I'm heartbroken."
What The Brooklyn Nets' New Barclays Center Home Will Look Like Inside
Assuming there is basketball (and that Deron Williams doesn't just move to Turkey for good) the Nets should be playing in Brooklyn in September 2012. But first the Barclays Center, the much-debated arena over the Atlantic Yards that will be the team's home, needs to get wrapped up. Speaking of, hey! Renderings! The stadium itself is rising quickly, tickets are already on sale and today the arena has released the first renderings of the space's insides. Y'all ready for some bland interiors?
Is Downtown Brooklyn Getting A Dave & Busters?
Beer-soaked Dance Dance Revolution junkies, rejoice! You might not have to go all the way to Times Square to get your sweat on anymore! A giant "Dave & Busters"-style "entertainment mecca" might be coming to downtown Brooklyn soon, right across the street from the Barclays Center. After reading the very excited online ad the property's owner posted today today, what "Chuck E. Cheese with beer"-style chain wouldn't want to move in?
Controversial Park Slope Bar Owner Refuses To Close Patio At Midnight
Prime 6, the forthcoming Flatbush Avenue restaurant-lounge that's got Park Slopers in a tizzy, is back in the news after last night's community board meeting. You'll recall that at the start of March one Park Slope resident made waves with a petition urging the club to promote indie musicians, not hip hop artists. Others, however, seemed more concerned about the joint's 46-seat back patio, which the owner initially asserted would stay open until 4 a.m. in the summer. Now he's agreed to close it at 1 a.m., but the locals still aren't satisfied; they want Prime 6 to move the party inside at midnight on weekends. But the owner's not having it.
Aerial Photos Show "Progress" At Atlantic Yards Project
CBS 880's Tom Kaminski has obtained dramatic photographic evidence of construction at the controversial Atlantic Yards development/parking lot. The big arena that may one day be the home of the Brooklyn New Yorkers (currently the New Jersey Nets) seems to be coming along, despite numerous lawsuits attempting to stop it. Today, in fact, opponents of the project will square off in court against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). A coalition of community groups wants a court order to halt all construction because the ESDC's environmental impact statement analyzed Atlantic Yards as a 10-year construction project. Now it's expected to take a quarter century, and critics want the environmental impact reconsidered.
Are New Jersey Nets Becoming The "Brooklyn New Yorkers"?
Someday, after all the lawsuits are dismissed and a desperately-needed stadium and parking lot comes to Prospect Heights, the New Jersey Nets will play world-class basketball in Brooklyn. But they will likely do so under a new name, and it looks like that name may be—drum roll please—the Brooklyn New Yorkers! And the crowd goes wilding. Officials associated with the Nets are denying it, but the Nets Daily has come up with some pretty convincing evidence that The New Yorkers are coming to Brooklyn. Who's their mascot, Eustace Tilley?
Elephants Will Walk Down Flatbush Ave. In 2013!
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be skipping town to Jersey for the time being. But Brooklyn Paper reports today that the circus will soon have a new home in Brooklyn—at the Barclays Center. One of the productions of the “Greatest Show on Earth” will take up residency at the future home of the Nets in March 2013, about six months after the arena is slated to open.
BK Nets Consider Tempting Fans With Free Beer
The Nets' season is quickly hitting the crapper with a six game losing streak, leaving them with a less-than-sterling 6-17 record. And while the mere fact that they exist may be enough to develop some fan base in Newark, it ain't gonna cut it once the team moves to Brooklyn in a few years. But you know what might get the fans in? Forget Carmelo Anthony—try free beer.
Shaq: Nets Should Stay In NJ, Calls Prokhorov "Beautiful"
Shaquille O'Neal chatted with NJ's Herald News about the Nets, whom the Celtics are playing tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, and guess what, he has an opinion of the team moving to Brooklyn! Shaq said, "I would have liked to see the new owner get with the guy who built the arena and keep the Nets [in Newark]. I don't want to see the team go to Brooklyn. Maybe the two heads can get together, they can do that and I can come down there and become general manager."

