Upscale Barclay Sports Center Nearly Done With Plans Now For Neighboring Eco-Friendly Housing

After years of battling financing problems, and lawsuits over issues like private property rights and eminent domain, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards is nearing completion.

Rendering of how the Barclays Center and all three housing buildings will appear when completed at Atlantic Yards. Rendering courtesy of SHoP Architects.

Working on the project, real estate developer and manager Forest City Enterprises, said last month in its third quarter fiscal report, that, “Work continues at Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards, and the arena is on schedule for opening in September 2012.”

The Barclays Center is expected to host more than 200 events annually, including professional and collegiate sports, concerts, family shows, and NETS basketball.

The arena will have 18,000 seats for basketball and up to 19,000 seats for concerts, according to the developer, adding that “the arena will have 104 luxury suites, including 15 brownstone suites (16 seats each), 68 loft suites (10 seats each), 11 backstage suites, six studio suites, and four party suites.”

The arena will also include 40 loge boxes, six clubs and restaurants, and the Barclays Center Practice Facility on-site.

“The design is elegant and intimate and also a bold architectural statement that will nicely complement the surrounding buildings and neighborhood,” said Bruce Ratner, chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Cos., Forest City Enterprises’ subsidiary, which is handling and promoting the project.

The development will combine the arena with a public plaza, eight acres of landscaped open space, about 6,400 units of affordable, middle-income and market-rate housing, as well as ground-floor retail space for local businesses and office space.

Forest City just released the initial designs for the first residential building that will be built on the block that currently holds the Barclay Center. The ground breaking date has yet to be set, but the developer says it’ll likely take place in the next few months.

Rendering of the first residential building that will be built on the block that currently holds the Barclay Center. Rendering courtesy of SHoP Architects.

“The building will have approximately 175 units of affordable housing for middle and low-income New Yorkers and 175 units of market rate housing,” said the developer, adding that tenants for the affordable housing units “will be selected though a city-administered lottery process.”

Among the building amenities planned are a 24-hour doorman service, fitness center, secure bike storage, resident lounge, and roof terrace.

For this first residential building, the developer also said that it’s “exploring modular (prefabricated) technology to build the building. If built modular, the 340,000 square foot, 32-story building would be the world’s tallest modular building.”

The building is being designed to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Silver certification.

In promoting the idea, Forest City says that, “Today, with improved technology, modular construction is seen by engineers, architects, and housing advocates as a way to build much needed housing more beautifully, efficiently, and affordably, while at the same time reducing the impact on local communities and environments.

Forest City adds that:

Modular construction uses the same construction materials as conventionally constructed buildings. These include steel, glass, and all the finishes used in traditional buildings. Living spaces can be completely different from one another in size, shape, ceiling heights, as well as finishes.

Modules can even be set next to one another with open walls to create large open spaces. The façade of a modular building is not constrained by modular fabrication and can be identical to a conventional façade.

If the developer does decide on modular construction, it’s likely to cause a huge uproar in the local traditional construction industry. The New York Times reported in March 2011 that, “the modular structure would infuriate the construction workers who were Mr. Ratner’s most ardent supporters during the years of stormy community meetings, where they drowned out neighborhood opponents with chants of ‘jobs, jobs, jobs.’”

The developer does have some legal accountability to the local community in job creation.  In 2005, the developer signed a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) in New York City to accompany the development project.

The legally binding document was signed by eight Brooklyn-based community groups representing local residents, and contains specific benefits related to housing, jobs, small business programs, community amenities, environmental assurances, and arena usage.

The developer is obligated to provide “a minimum of 35 percent of the jobs for minority workers and another 10 percent for women, with 35 percent of each category for journey level workers.”

The Empire State Development Corporation is using its existing Community Labor Exchange (CLE) program to require contractors to hire part of the workforce from the community.

A pre-apprentice training program has already been developed to help new workers develop the kinds of skills they can use beyond this project.

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