The Barclays Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Brooklyn, New York. The arena sits partly on a platform over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-owned Vanderbilt Yards at Atlantic Avenue. It is part of a $4.9 billion sports arena, business and residential complex. The arena is the current home of the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets. The team will start playing in the arena in the 2012–13 season.

The project was developed by developer Forest City Ratner, who acquired the Nets in 2004, with the purpose of moving them from New Jersey to this site near the Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center subway station (نطقب:NYCS Atlantic-Pacific trains) and the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, one of the most transit-accessible locations in the city. The move marked the return of major league sports to Brooklyn, which have been absent since the departure of the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 (their proposal for the world's first domed stadium just north of the Atlantic Yards site--currently the Atlantic Terminal Mall, owned by Forest City Ratner--to replace the unprofitable Ebbets Field had been turned down by the city in the past). Controversies involving local residents and the use of eminent domain, multiple lawsuits, as well as a lack of financing, delayed the project's completion by أربعة years.

On March 1, 2010, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges struck down a challenge by property owners regarding the state's use of eminent domain, which allowed the private properties to be condemned. Groundbreaking for the project occurred on March 11, 2010, and opened to the public on September 21, 2012. It will hold its first event with a Jay-Z concert on September 28th.

Design

Designed by the architect firm Ellerbe Becket (who has also designed the arenas used by the Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, and San Antonio Spurs), and New York City firm SHoP Architects, the proposed arena would host the Nets – along with concerts, conventions and other sporting events, competing with Madison Square Garden and the Prudential Center, among other facilities in the New York metropolitan area.

Externally, the arena's shape is that of three articulated bands, and features a glass curtain wall covered by a 'latticework' made up of 12,000 preweathered steel panels, which are meant to evoke the image of Brooklyn's brownstones. An 117-by-56-قدم (36 by 17 م) "Oculus" extends over a 5,660-قدم-مربع (526 م²) section of the plaza outside of the main arena entrance, and contains a display screen that loops around on the inside of the structure.

The 38,885-قدم-مربع (3,613 م²) entrance plaza features a "Transit Connection" structure which connects with the Atlantic Avenue subway station and will serve as the centerpiece of the plaza. As the basketball court is situated below ground level, the scoreboard is visible from the plaza.

The arena is pursuing LEED Silver certification.

The original design of the arena, by renowned architect Frank Gehry, would have the arena's roof feature a park open only to residents of the Atlantic Yards complex, ringed by an open-air running track that doubled as a ice skating rink in winter with panoramic vistas facing Manhattan year-round; but those roof plans were scrapped due to Gehry's design being projected to put the cost of the arena at $1 billion, which was seen as being too expensive. Gehry's design was eventually replaced in September 2009 by the current Becket/SHoP design, which puts the arena costs at $800 million, though the final cost of the entire project is currently projected to be $1 billion.

Hockey

It has been suggested that the New York Islanders could play games at the Barclays Center once their lease at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum expires in 2015. Brooklyn is geographically the western end of Long Island, and many on other parts of the island have roots there. Also, the Nets and Islanders had previously shared Nassau Coliseum from 1972 to 1977. Financing documents for the arena released in December 2009 indicate that “The New York Islanders could potentially become a tenant” at the Barclays Center. The Islanders' agreement with the New York Rangers allows them to relocate anywhere on Long Island, including Brooklyn and Queens.

Whereas the original Gehry design would have featured a hockey configuration with capacity typical of the arenas used in the National Hockey League, the final design for the Barclays Center is designed mainly for basketball use. It can nevertheless accommodate an NHL-size rink, though the arena will only be able to seat 14,500 fans in its hockey configuration, which would give it the lowest seating capacity in the NHL.

The Islanders are scheduled to play a preseason game against the New Jersey Devils at the Barclays Center on October 2, 2012. The Kontinental Hockey League announced that it will host KHL (regular season and preseason) games in Brooklyn starting with the 2012-13 season, taking advantage of the heavy Russian-American population in Brighton Beach. In April 2012 National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman expressed concerns that Islander fans from Queens and Long Island would have a hard time reaching the center.

Other events

The first basketball game played in the new arena will be a college tilt between the Maryland Terrapins and Kentucky Wildcats.

Trance event Sensation America is coming in October 2012.

Rapper and Nets minority owner Jay-Z plans to open the Barclays Center by performing in a series of concerts. The eight concerts will be held September 28-October 5, 2012. Every show was sold out by the end of the day that tickets went onsale, July 12, 2012.

Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions will bring boxing to the Barclays Center on October 20. Brooklyn native Paulie Malignaggi is expected to be on the card.

The Atlanticعشرة Conference has announced that the Barclays Center will be the new home of the conference's men's basketball tournament beginning in 2013.

After nearly a decade of performing annual concerts in Manhattan's Madison Square Garden, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli chose to make his Brooklyn debut at the venue, December 5, 2012, making it his only New York City performance in 2012.

Barclays Center will be the new New York City home of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, Disney On Ice and Champions on Ice upon its opening, (although Prudential Center also hosts Champions on Ice, Izod Center the former two events, and Nassau Coliseum all three events). Barclays Center's first Disney On Ice is "Rockin' Ever After" in November, followed by "Treasure Trove" in January. .

WWE will be hosting their TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view at the venue on December 16, 2012.

Lady Gaga will be bringing her massively successful Born This Way Ball to the venue on March 6, 2013.

Rihanna will conclude the first North American Leg of her Diamonds World Tour at the arena in May 2013.

Naming rights

On January 18, 2007 it was announced that the arena would be called Barclays Center, after London-based Barclays plc. It was reported that Barclays has agreed to pay the team $400 million over the next 20 years for the naming rights of their future Brooklyn home. This eclipsed the previous record for naming rights to an American indoor arena, set by Royal Philips Electronics in 1999, for $185 million over 20 years for Philips Arena in Atlanta. However, the naming rights were renegotiated, and are somewhat more than $200 million. The proceeds of the naming rights will go to the developer, not to the state of New York, which owns the land. Barclays, which does not have any retail banks in the United States will not have its own ATM machines in the arena.

Developments

The arena was initially projected to open in 2006, with the rest of the Atlantic Yards complex to follow. However, controversies involving local residents and the use of eminent domain, as well as a lack of financing, delayed the project. Due to the legal and financial troubles, the development deal was headed towards failure or collapse, and Ratner at one point explored selling the team.

On May 16, 2009, the arena's developers received good news, as opponents' attempts to halt the project on claims that eminent domain could not take place, were thwarted, when a New York Supreme Court justice ruled in favor of Ratner. However, groundbreaking was still not a sure thing. Ratner claimed to have financing in place, but it was reported that he had gone to the MTA and asked it to lower the amount owed them up front. Ratner successfully bid on the land for $100 million, but now was asking to lower the down payment to as little as $25 million, suggesting that his "in-place financing" wasn't so "in-place" after all.

Also, opponents appealed the court decision. A hearing for the appeal was scheduled for October 14, 2009, with a decision to be issued no sooner than November 25. Ratner needed to break ground by the end of the year. If the case were held up in court beyond December 31, 2009, Ratner would lose the right to tax-free bonds, which would be issued to make financing more feasible. If Ratner lost those bonds, it would cost him about $150 million.

On September 23, 2009, Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to a $200 million deal to become a principal owner of the Nets and a key investor in the Brooklyn arena.

In October 2009, the Nets played two preseason games at the Prudential Center. The two preseason games were successful, and a deal that would have the Nets play at the Prudential Center for the 2010–11 and 2011–12 NBA seasons became more likely. Negotiations nearly fell apart, when the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority refused to release the Nets from their lease at Izod. Negotiations resumed, and on February 18, 2010, the Nets finalized a deal that would move them to the Prudential Center in Newark, until Barclays Center opened.

On November 24, 2009, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state using eminent domain for the project. Empire State Development Corporation Vice President Warner Johnston indicated that the agency is committed to seeing the project completed and said "we can now move forward with development."

Another potential roadblock to this development resulted from the Appellate Court's negative decision regarding a similar eminent domain case, brought against Columbia University. This landmark case could have given new life to the case being brought by the community group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB).

However, on March 1, 2010, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges struck down a challenge by property owners, regarding the state's use of eminent domain, which allowed the private property to be condemned. Groundbreaking for the project occurred on March 11, 2010.

On June 29, 2010, the first concrete was poured into the foundation of the Barclays Center. The arena began vertical construction on November 23, 2010, with the erection of the first steel piece. The arena topped out on January 12, 2012.

الهامش

وصلات خارجية

• Barclays Center, official website of the Barclays Center
• Construction Cam

Coordinates:

نطقب:NBA Arenas نطقب:Brooklyn Nets نطقب:NewYorksportsvenues