Barclays Center May Lose Its Entrance Plaza By 2016

The wide open plaza in front of the Barclays Center has proven to be a great use of space—all of those Nets fans need somewhere to line up while waiting to go through metal detectors—but Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Reports reminds us that the plaza is likely not permanent. The original plans for Atlantic Yards, now called Pacific Park, called for an office building and hotel to rise on the site, but the recession halted that plan. New documents distributed at a Community Development Corporation meeting, however, indicate that construction is projected to start on this building by November 2016 for an opening in February 2019.

Oder notes that "building an office tower is not financially sensible now," and he speculates that the site, identified as B1, could become residential; Greenland USA, Forest City's partner in the development, writes on its LinkedIn page that Pacific Park has "16 residential towers," which means that every site would hold apartments.

In response to a question about the timeline for this tower, Forest City CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin said "I think we're still in planning stages of B1. The issue is the obvious one: landing the building at the prow of the arena, given that the open space has become a public amenity. We are noodling over that. We are entitled to build a building…"

Nets Daily points out that the original Frank Gehry plans for Atlantic Yards included an "urban room" at the base of the B1 tower that would have served as a glass-walled waiting space for the arena, so it's possible that future plans could include something similar.
· Despite Forest City handout predicting office space at B1 site over arena plaza, Greenland lists "16 residential towers" [AYR]
· Will Brooklyn Nets fans lose Barclays Center entrance plaza? [Nets Daily]
· All Atlantic Yards coverage [Curbed]
· All Barclay's Center coverage [Curbed]