The Barclays Center Could Have Killed Us All

Tien Mao via Gothamist

It was only a matter of time.

Forest City Ratner, the same company that promised Brooklyn starchitect Frank Gehry's 9th Wonder of the World and instead plans to give us watered down, prefab modular towers, recently admitted that bolts originally used to keep the Barclays Center from collapsing into Target and Vickie's Secret were the wrong size.

According to the New York Times, halfway through building, the company that created the bolts stopped production because of financial difficulties, and in a rush attempt to complete the arena in time for Jay-Z and the Nets, Forest City Ratner used smaller bolts in the arena's canopy-like entryway to get the job done.

In truth, of the 23, 351 bolts used to secure the tin-roof rusted panels, only 1,768 -- or roughly 8 percent -- are faulty. Since the arena survived Hurricane Sandy's windy bitch slap, we can assume that the building won't fall apart, fingers crossed and whatnot.

But like in any dysfunctional relationship, the real issue in this situation is trust. The Buildings Department claims that it was never notified of the problem, though Forest City Ratner says otherwise.

According to the Times:

"Forest City provided a copy of a nine-page letter concerning the bolts that it said had been filed with the Buildings Department on Sept. 14. That was the day the agency issued a temporary certificate of occupancy that allowed the arena to open as scheduled."

That makes sense, FCR: get your temporary C.O., then file a letter admitting that there's a *wee* problem that you've known about since August. Smoooooth. For those of you worried that you might be killed by a giant, rusty panel on your way to Best Buy, fear not. The bolts were replaced last month. Though this whole thing does further illuminate how shady those folks at Forest City Ratner can be. At least the Nets are doing well. Oh wait.