Upscale Barclay Sports Center Nearly Done With Plans Now For Neighboring Eco-Friendly Housing
January 4, 2012 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis After years of battling financing problems, and lawsuits over issues like private property rights and eminent domain, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards is nearing completion.
Rendering of how the Barclays Center and all three housing buildings will appear when completed at Atlantic Yards. Rendering courtesy of SHoP Architects.
Working on the project, real estate developer and manager Forest City Enterprises, said last month in its third quarter fiscal report, that, “Work continues at Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards, and the arena is on schedule for opening in September 2012.”
The Barclays Center is expected to host more than 200 events annually, including professional and collegiate sports, concerts, family shows, and NETS basketball.
The arena will have 18,000 seats for basketball and up to 19,000 seats for concerts, according to the developer, adding that “the arena will have 104 luxury suites, including 15 brownstone suites (16 seats each), 68 loft suites (10 seats each), 11 backstage suites, six studio suites, and four party suites.”
The arena will also include 40 loge boxes, six clubs and restaurants, and the Barclays Center Practice Facility on-site.
“The design is elegant and intimate and also a bold architectural statement that will nicely complement the surrounding buildings and neighborhood,” said Bruce Ratner, chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Cos., Forest City Enterprises’ subsidiary, which is handling and promoting the project.
The development will combine the arena with a public plaza, eight acres of landscaped open space, about 6,400 units of affordable, middle-income and market-rate housing, as well as ground-floor retail space for local businesses and office space.