This is an archived version of a Field of Schemes article. Comments on this page are closed. To find the current version of the article with updated comments, click here.
March 12, 2010
Shovels fly at Nets arena groundbreaking
More than six years in the making, Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project (aka the Barclays Center arena, aka the place the New Jersey Nets plan to play when they finally leave New Jersey) finally had its ceremonial groundbreaking yesterday. As you might expect, there were lots of shovels brandished and giant cardboard faces donned in protest. I didn't go myself, but you can read Curbed's blog for all the gory details, including photos of trays of turkey-lobster sliders.
If the word "ceremonial" didn't tip you off (let alone the turkey-lobster sliders), nothing of substance was discussed or revealed yesterday, about when the arena will open, when the associated apartment buildings will be built, when the state plans to seize the private properties that still stand in the way of construction, or anything like that. But Jay-Z was there!
Neil! You're missing all the West Coast Fun!
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/12/2601703/sacramento-task-force-picks-kamilos.html
Posted by MikeM on March 12, 2010 02:55 PM
The nets are very lucky to have such great owners not like the knicks who have a clown of a owner. The nets will be a very good team in 2012.
Posted by Dan on March 12, 2010 06:03 PM
It is still unclear to me if the new arena will be designed (term used loosely now that Gehry is off the job) to accomodate an NHL team. I'm thinking of the Islanders, obviously: the Lighthouse is going to remain in the dark...
Part of the disaster that was the remodel of the old Seattle Center Arena into Key Arena was the refusal on the part of ownership to make the thing suitable for hockey, leaving you with nothing when a red-stater named Clay comes in and moves your team from Your Town to Halfwit-Teabagg, OK (to adapt a phrase by Sherman Alexie). A one-sport arena is just a dumb idea.
Giving Charlie Wang a way out of Hempstead may give the Brooklyn thing a better shot at viability. They're going to build the damned thing, like it or not; they might as well try not to lose too much money over it, yes?
Posted by Anderson on March 13, 2010 10:44 AM
Well, it all depends on how much rent the Islanders are willing to pay. Filling 40 nights a year in New York City isn't that hard — there are plenty of concerts and such that would play there. And for hockey games you need extra time to make the ice, etc. So depending on what they'd be paying, it might be as much of a headache as anything.
I haven't been able to find out whether it'll be designed for the NHL either, but my uneducated guess is that Ratner and Prokhorov are waiting to see if Wang makes them an offer that's worth their while. If so, they'll tell Ellerbe to work in a rink; if not, they'll go ahead without it.
Posted by Neil on March 13, 2010 01:13 PM
On the subject of one-sport arenas, I think of lot of the BS that's gone on with the Phoenix (Wile E.) Coyotes has to do with the fact that US Airways Arena is about as well designed for hockey as the Empire State Building. Just think, if that building had been designed properly, then the Coyotes would move on, there'd be no whining from Glendale AZ, no hundreds of millions wasted on a new buildign or on indemnities should the Wile E's move, blah blah.
As for the Isles, the Lighthouse is indeed, dead as a doornail. But we all know, dear friends that building even a simple newspaper stand in New York takes approximately five centuries and runs over budget at least 500%.
Posted by Marty on March 14, 2010 03:09 PM
I have heard from a friend of mine that works at the coliseum that wang is talking to queens about building a arena in queens near citifield. Ifthat doesn't happen they will be headed to brooklyn.
Posted by Dan on March 14, 2010 11:41 PM