In the original Frank Gehry plan for Barclays Center, the two-acre roof was to be a park, with a running track for residents of the adjacent residential towers. That got lost as the economy collapsed in 2008 and Bruce Ratner cut costs.
Now, the back-up plan is underway. The roof will still be green, but it won't be accessible and there will be no running track. Still, this week saw the first signs of what the greener arena will look like. On Tuesday, the first of 34,000 two feet by two feet boxes of sedum were placed atop a new steel deck a few feet above the original roof.