Banking On Brooklyn Arena

British bank Barclays has signed a 20-year naming rights deal with the new basketball arena planned in Brooklyn.

The Frank Gehry-designed, 18,000-capacity venue will be called The Barclays Center when it is expected to open near the end of the decade.

The bank and Forest City Ratner, which is the builder of the new arena for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, did not disclose terms of the deal. However, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the bank would invest more than $300 million over the next 20 years.

Forest City Ratner hopes to build a $4 billion mini-city on what is now a rail yard and a mix of residential and industrial blocks. The "Atlantic Yards" project faces legal challenges from residents whose homes are being seized for the project under an eminent domain decree.