Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

The Barclays Center has released to community members the monthly event calendars for April, May, and June 2015, and has finally--and usefully--added events that are not publicly ticketed. Previously the arena only listed ticketed events, but private events--like a graduation or a memorial service --can impact neighbors and/or prove useful to merchants. Note that, along with NYU Poly and Long Island University, which are repeats, Yeshiva University, CUNY City Tech, and CUNY Baruch are holding graduation events. Several weeks at the end of April and early May are not booked. Presumably they must be kept open because the Brooklyn Nets may get into (and advance in) the NBA playoffs. The Nets have been on a surge, and as of last night, they're in the 8th seed .

After failing to prepare / release an event calendar for May, the Barclays Center has released its June 2014 public event calendar, with more than two weeks' lead time. The roster includes seven events: five concerts, plus a boxing event and the 2014 NBA draft. (As noted by @NetsDaily's Bob Windrem, the 10,000 expected for the 2014 draft is twice that last year, though neither New York team has a pick. This year tickets are $15/$20/$35, while last year they were $20/$35. I'm not sure that pricing will get them to 10,000 people. There might have to be some giveaways.) Though the arena can seat up to 19,000 for concerts , the largest crowd expected is for Avicii , a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer, with an estimated attendance of 13,000. Some of his output is classified as electronic dance music (EDM), the genre that has sometimes led to loud bass leaking from the Barclays Center into neighbors' homes. Unlisted events The calendar does not list ev...

The headline in today's Wall Street Journal is  Space Constraints Send Brooklyn High School Graduating Class to New Arena , but it could have added the words "plus $60,000." Today's graduation ceremony at the arena will cost an additional $60,000 to rent the Barclays Center. Previously, the school had to hold two graduation ceremonies in its 3,000-seat school auditorium to accommodate the 1,200 graduating seniors and their families. The Journal reports: This year, school officials raised student dues by $50 to help pay for the $60,000 cost of holding a ceremony at Barclays, which broke ground in 2010 three blocks away from the competitive school. Other schools are large enough to hold their commencements in venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Apollo Theater and New York Botanical Garden. But Brooklyn Tech students have felt a connection to Barclays Center, Principal Randy Asher said. "Literally the center has grown up with the students," he said...

Photo by Kathryn Kirk/Borough President's Office On 1/23/13, officials held a groundbreaking for the restoration of the the 3,200-seat Loew’s Kings Theatre  in Flatbush, built in 1929 and closed since 1977. It's the largest indoor theater in Brooklyn, and its ornate French Renaissance Style design is remembered fondly by old-timers (and was the site of Borough President Marty Markowitz's first date ). From a Markowitz  press release : Following preliminary work untaken by ACE Theatrical over the last three years, New York City has executed a 55-year lease with the Kings Theatre Redevelopment Corporation – a consortium of ACE Theatrical, Goldman Sachs and the National Development Council – to begin the full redevelopment and rehabilitation of the theatre. The project was financed through funding from the City, Marty Markowitz, the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group and United Fund Advisors. ...“Restoring the glory of the Loew’s Kings Theatre into a combinati...