Plaza Design Outside New Nets Arena Unveiled

The developer of a new arena for the NBA's New Jersey Nets has released a design for a temporary plaza in front of
 the Brooklyn venue.

The plaza at the busy intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues will be replaced by an office building when the market improves enough to build one.

The long-delayed 18,000-seat arena, called Barclays Center, is scheduled to open in 2012. Developer Bruce Ratner said Tuesday that construction is on schedule.

The arena is to anchor a 22-acre residential and commercial development. But Ratner said a planned office building will have to  wait until the economy picks up.

The group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, which has opposed the project from the beginning, issued a statement after the new designs were released, saying, that the lack of the residential buildings meant Ratner had reneged on promises for affordable housing.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us