Newark Arena - Prudential Center

[Marv95]

Newark orders Pru Center off-limits due to code violation
by Joe Ryan and Jeffery C. Mays/The Star-Ledger
Friday July 11, 2008, 7:26 AM

Signs taped to the entrances of Newark's Prudential Center this morning order the arena to be vacated until it can be "rendered safe and secure."

The notices, signed by Newark construction official Niel Midtgard, read: "You are hereby ordered to vacate said premises. As of 7/11/2008, no individual is to occupy this building until the structure is rendered safe & secure."
Prudential Center

Around 7:30 a.m., a group of people walked in to the building, including New Jersey Devils owner Jeffrey Vanderbeek. Asked what was going on, Vanderbeek said: "I don't know, I'm here to find out."
Jeff Vanderbeek

The next scheduled event at the Prudential Center is Wednesday, July 16, "The Comedy Cures Comedy and Casino Night."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker arrived at the arena at approximately 7:45 a.m., and said: "I'll talk to you when I know more about it."

Esmeralda Diaz Cameron, a spokeswoman for Booker, said he made the decision at midnight to shutter the arena.

William Crawley, head of the Newark Downtown Core Redevelopment Corp., the agency hired to oversee the arena, said the arena was shut down due to a code compliance issue.

"We are greatly concerned about what appears to be an arena shutdown because of code enforcement issue," said Crawley. "As the asset manager we will make inquiries with the city administration to find out the next step."

The arena is still operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy that has been in place since it opened in October. One of the issues keeping it from gaining a final certificate of occupancy has been the stairwell smoke evacuation system. As a result, the Prudential Center has had to pay for city firefighters to stand at stairwells during events.

That's what happens when a)you rush things and b)don't start the actual construction on time.

[JCMAN320]

Pro lacrosse team plans to play at Pru Center in Newark

by The Associated Press
Tuesday November 11, 2008, 11:31 AM

Professional lacrosse is coming to Newark.

The New York Titans will play five of their seven home games at the Prudential Center this season.


New York Titans
Casey Powell of the New York Titans

The Titans play in the 13-team National Lacrosse League and normally play their home games at Madison Square Garden. Last season the team reached the league semifinals.

The team is led by Casey Powell, a former three-time All-America for Syracuse University.

The Titans are scheduled to play at the Prudential Center on Jan. 10 against Boston; Feb. 8 against Chicago; March 14 against Calgary; April 4 against Philadelphia and April 11 against Buffalo.

The team also plans to provide instruction and equipment to local schools as part of a community outreach project.

[ZenSteelDude]

Not to toot my own horn but.

Newark’s Prudential Center Voted Region’s Best

http://newyork.construction.com/feat...8/12_cover.asp

The company I work for built the "entrance cylinders"

[66nexus]

New Home Radiates More Energy for Seton Hall

Aaron Houston for The New York Times
The Prudential Center in Newark has given the Pirates a home-court advantage. Seton Hall is 10-2 at home.


By BILL FINLEY
Published: January 29, 2008
NEWARK — The Seton Hall men’s basketball team is better than it was last season, which has something to do with the hot shooting of Brian Laing, the veteran leadership of Jamar Nutter and the energetic play of the freshman Jeremy Hazell. It also has something to do with a building.

Having left the cavernous and, at least when Seton Hall played, empty Continental Arena in East Rutherford, the Pirates are flourishing here in their new home, the Prudential Center. “I really like it here,” Laing said Sunday after the Pirates’ 10th victory in 12 home games this season, 64-61 over Cincinnati. “It feels more like a college basketball atmosphere. At times, it gets really loud in here. Now, it really does feel like we have a homecourt advantage.”

That was not always the case at the Meadowlands, where Seton Hall played from 1985 through last season. During recent seasons, the Pirates often attracted crowds of fewer than 5,000. In a building that can hold 20,029 for basketball, the arena seemed empty and dreary, lacking not only people but energy most nights Seton Hall played. The Pirates were 11-5 last season at Continental Arena, which has since been renamed the Izod Center, and 13-16 over all.

“The problem with the Meadowlands, it was like a neutral site for us,” said Seton Hall Coach Bobby Gonzalez, whose team is 14-6 over all this season.
When the option of playing at the Prudential Center arose, Seton Hall, like the Devils, decided to make the move. Another key move was the decision to cordon off the upper bowl of the new arena. For Seton Hall games, a black curtain is lowered to cover the entire top deck, limiting the arena’s capacity to 9,800, or about 9,000 fewer than the building could hold if all areas were open.

The result is that, even with 6,000 or 7,000 people in the building, the Prudential Center feels packed. And the crowd, no longer spread about the arena, is closer to the action. That is good for the fans and the players, who seem to feed off the atmosphere. “It can get crazy in here,” Seton Hall guard Eugene Harvey said. “Now, you can tell when people are into the game. At the Meadowlands, it was so spread out it never seemed like there was a big crowd.”

Seton Hall averaged 6,636 fans for 16 games last season at Continental Arena. This season, the Pirates have drawn an average of 6,488 over 12 games, but with coming games against Notre Dame, Syracuse and Rutgers, that number is expected to increase significantly.

Despite the problems with the Meadowlands, some felt Seton Hall should have stayed there. Would Pirates fans trek from the suburbs into Newark, where fear of crime and a lack of parking might become issues? “I was a big detractor of the move,” said Steve Ritardi, a season-ticket holder from Mendham. “I thought it was going to be a complete disaster. I didn’t think the infrastructure was going to be good enough, and I never thought they’d be able to draw the type of crowds that they’re drawing to this place.” But Ritardi has been converted. “The Meadowlands was like a morgue,” he said. “Here you walk in through restaurants and bars, and there’s some life here. Especially for college basketball, it’s a much more intimate setting.”

The new arena is also popular with students. “One of the highlights of this season is our student numbers, which are up significantly,” said Seton Hall’s athletic director, Joe Quinlan Jr. “I’m not sure what the answer is. We’ve done a lot of outreaching to them, but I think it’s also a case of it being easier for them to get here.” The Seton Hall campus is four miles from the Prudential Center and about 15 miles from the Meadowlands. The arena is also only a few blocks from Pennsylvania Station here, making it accessible by public transportation. Seton Hall has sold out two games and, with the team on a four-game winning streak entering Wednesday’s game at Rutgers, demand for tickets is on the rise. Quinlan’s hope is that Seton Hall will continue to improve under Gonzalez and that in future seasons, ticket demand will necessitate opening the entire facility. For now, Seton Hall will stick with what has been working.

“We’ve had three overtime wins in this building,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve come back from being down 23. We’ve came back from being down 19; back from being down 14 to Louisville in the last six minutes of the game. What’s happening is the kids are feeding off the crowd. They almost don’t believe we’re going to lose here.”

taken from nytimes.com