Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

How about that?  On Wednesday, Dec. 14, the seating arena on the Barclays Center plaza--er, SeatGeek Plaza--finally reopened after a revamp, some two-and-a-half months late. (The escalator to the transit entrance, however, was still balky, as shown in the photo from Dec. 15.) The overall work, which started in June, was initially  supposed to be done by September, then, after an  update  from the arena operating company, by mid-October.  The portion serving the arena entrance was, indeed, finished just before the Oct. 19 season opener for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, the building’s anchor tenant, allowing ticketholders to gather. But the segment behind the subway entrance, where the general public sits on benches near the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, took much longer, until, well, it was no longer so comfortable to sit outside. #Youbelonghere? Photo/Norman Oder. Dec. 14, 2022 Bike racks replace benches As shown above, 62 bike coils have appea...

As I  wrote in July , the promise of 400 secure, attended indoor free bike parking spaces for Barclays Center visitors has been attenuated to--for now--100 outdoor unattended spots. And while the decrease in the number of spaces is plausible, based on demand and the emergence of CitiBike and other options, the diminished promise saves the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developers, no longer operating the arena, a decent sum. Now comes Oonee , "a secure community bicycle parking room for local residents, area workers and visitors," with its first Brooklyn "pod," offering 20 spaces on Atlantic Avenue outside Atlantic Terminal across from Barclays. It was unveiled last Friday, with Borough President Eric Adams, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and local Council Member Laurie Cumbo. It's not free, but the price is modest--$1 a day, or $4.99 a month, as the  Brooklyn Paper  reported--since it's subsidized by advertising. Last night was magical. Thanks to ever...

I've written this week about how the Technical Memorandum (aka Tech Memo) associated with recently approved project changes revealed new information about plans for a giant Ventilation Structure in the project's open space, as well as cast doubt on claims regarding the newly approved below-grade fitness center and field house. The Tech Memo also fudged the issue of bike parking. As I've previously written , despite a promise to provide 400 indoor, secured spaces, the project developer instead provided outdoor unsecured spaces, and only on a few occasions provided secure valeted service. That latter experience, with a maximum 99 bikes parked, somehow led ESD to conclude that no more than 100 unsecured outdoor spaces was necessary, and that there was no reason to carve out space from project buildings. The document continues that argument: REDUCTION IN BICYCLE PARKING As discussed above, the Proposed Modifications would also reduce the number of Barclays Arena gue...

The state's decision to change the requirements for bike parking for arena events from 400 indoor secured paces to 100 unsecured outdoor spaces--as I previously wrote for this blog , and for Streetsblog --got another airing at the 7/22/19 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). So it's worth watching the video, as excerpted below, to see the weak rationale from a representative of Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, when challenged by an AY CDC director--and then the willingness of another AY CDC director to accept the explanation and change the subject. Leading off Tobi Jaiyesimi, ESD's Atlantic Yards project director, explained the change: as part of the project's Transportation Demand Management plan, 400 valeted bike spaces were to be made available to eventgoers. The proposed modification reduces the number of spaces to 100, and removes the requirement that the ...

The is the third of multiple articles about the 7/16/19 Quality of Life meeting, which focused on  proposed modifications  to the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Modified General Project Plan (MGPP), none of which were said to trigger further official review. The first  article  concerned plans for a 100,000 square-foot below-grade fitness facility. The  second  concerned a cut in parking. The  fourth  concerned modifications to the B5 tower design. The  fifth  concerned a cut in the North-South walkway width. The  sixth  concerned planned ventilation structures. The  seventh  concerned a swap in square footage and a change in the design guidelines. The  eighth  concerned updates on infrastructure work and the fate of Site 5. As with the plan to further decrease vehicular parking, which seems to conform to a decision made in 2014 to exclude parking from a building then scheduled to contain it, the "Arena...

The southeast corner of the arena block, at the intersection of Dean Street and Sixth Avenue, seems likely to play a major part in the MTV Video Music Awards next Sunday, August 25, likely involving a red carpet, bleachers, and many celebrities. To that end, arena operators have been busily swapping out the temporary bike parking racks on that surface (which ultimately will be the site of a tower known as B3. As of [ updated ] 8 am today, as the photos indicate, there was but one bicycle still there. If it isn't gone as of this writing, I bet it will be soon. And when the VMAs are over, the bike racks should be back.

Would you believe that the lead story in the latest issue [ PDF ] of the Brooklyn Paper concerns the prospective use of valet parking at the Barclays Center? The newspaper closed before the concert last Wednesday, so it's understandable the story wasn't updated. But that's why it shouldn't be the lead. (By the way, after reporting way too low and then somewhat too high figures on the number of bikes valet parked in the 400-space late, I got the definitive number : 85.) On relationships Could the placement possibly have anything to do with regular ads from the arena in the Brooklyn Paper and its sibling Courier-Life chain? I can't prove that, of course, but business relationships can seem to correlate with favorable coverage. It just so happens that the most enthusiastic coverage of the arena among the dailies occurs in the New York Daily News, which sponsors the arena plaza. Has the Brooklyn Paper written about, say, the $3200 fine the aren...

Mayor and band, via  @Barclays Center Update Friday, June 7: TA tells me the official total is 85. Mayor Mike Bloomberg came to the Barclays Center last night to promote the new valet bike parking service, in which visitors could simply trade their bikes and helmets for a ticket and not have to lock up. (He even promoted the city's new Citibike service, as a photo further below suggests. The nearest Citibike station is on the other side of the arena, at the Atlantic Terminal mall.) Members of The National, the headliners at the Barclays Center, rode from Ditmas Park. Representatives of arena developer Forest City Ratner and Transportation Alternatives, which ran the valet parking effort, spoke to multiple TV cameras. Did it work? So, did the "experiment" work? As the (somewhat) tight shot at left suggesta, only a few dozen people took advantage of the service, at least early in the evening. (I wasn't able to stop by myself.) That number surely grew...

After years of ambiguity about the commitment Barclays Center operators would make to bike parking, and distinct underuse of the outdoor bike racks, the arena is stepping up, thanks to a modest deal--$850 for the first event--with Transportation Alternatives for a free bike valet system. According to the Wall Street Journal article posted last night, B arclays Center Pedals Out a Bike Valet Service: Brooklyn Arena to Test Bike Service for Concert-Goers : Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group, will conduct a trial run of bike valets on Wednesday at a concert by the Brooklyn-based band The National. Workers will collect bikes and helmets of arriving concertgoers, store them in existing bike racks, and redistribute them after the show is over. The charge to riders: nothing. Cyclists also won't have to tote a bike lock or carry a helmet around during the show The valet system is an effort to nudge residents of the surrounding neighborhoods in Brooklyn to bike to e...