Barclays Center driving Brooklyn bar business

If you're going to drink away your frustrations with this year's Nets, at least drink local.

In the current issue of Capital, a New York centric magazine, writer Sarah Laskow looks at how the Nets arena --and Nets fan traffic -- is driving business at bars, restaurants and other hospitality businesses near the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush, justifying predictions made by Bruce Ratner prior to the arena's opening..

Working out of McMahon's Public House, a bar popular with New Jersey and Long Island fans as well as Brooklynites, Laskow says her unscientific survey confirms an early 2012 study by Forest City Ratner that suggested fans would eat out before and drink after at local establishments.That survey claimed that on weekdays, 5.4 percent of Barclays’ customers patronized nearby businesses before Nets games; 11.9 percent went out afterward.

She attaches names to the numbers.

A list might include the Montrose and Uncle Barry’s on Fifth Avenue, Mullanes and Mo’s in Ft. Greene, and Woodwork on Vanderbilt Avenue, where Beyoncé once showed up—long enough to take a picture outside, at least. The arena crowd feeds at nearby restaurants, too: Search for "Woodland Brooklyn," and you’ll find that its defining characteristic, according to Google, is that it’s a "top-rated Brooklyn restaurant near Barclay Center."

And quotes an executive of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce who says, "Places along Flatbush and 5th Avenue, and the smaller side streets—they are doing very well with Barclays."  There are also new businesses, like ShakeShack, across the Flatbush from the arena, replacing stores that sold furniture and mattresses. Rents are rising, Laskow writes, driving change in the neighborhoods.

• The Barclays effect - Sarah Laskow - Capital
• My comment on Capital New York's "The Barclays effect" - Norman Oder - Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report