NIFTY SPIN MOVE: Brooklyn Nets star Kris Humphries strolls through the Barclays Center’s new underground garage, which has a rotating elevator system that places buses on a turntable that takes the vehicles to a parking spot. The subterranean sci-fi ride is the talk of the NBA for its James Bond-like arrival for visiting teams. (Chad Rachman/New York Post)
NIFTY SPIN MOVE: Brooklyn Nets star Kris Humphries (bottom right) strolls through the Barclays Center’s new underground garage, which has a rotating elevator system (bottom, arrow) that places buses on a turntable that takes the vehicles to a parking spot. The subterranean sci-fi ride is the talk of the NBA for its James Bond-like arrival for visiting teams. (NY Post: Chad Rachman)
There’s a cool ride at Barclays Center that’s impressing even NBA players.
The Brooklyn Nets’ new home is the buzz of the league because of its one-of-a-kind $4 million elevator and parking system that transports team buses and players’ cars directly from the street to an area 2 1/2 stories underground.
“I’ve never seen nothing like this in an arena, man,” stunned Denver Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler recently told The Post after his first ride. “Just pulling up to it is just crazy. It’s very futuristic.”
The vehicles first enter one of two, 14 1/2-foot by 81-foot freight elevators manned and gated outside the arena along Dean Street.
Then, once the ride down is complete, there’s little room for large vehicles to maneuver — so they cruise onto a steel-deck turntable which rotates them to an angle that allows the driver to pull out and park.
The massive turntable, which holds up to 100,000 pounds, can rotate 360 degrees within four minutes.
Daniel Brooks, who drives visiting team buses to the arena, said he can’t count how many players’ jaws have dropped after their Barclays Center parking experience.
“Their reaction is, ‘Are you serious?! This is bananas!’ ” he said.
The high-tech parking system is the brainchild of arena developer Bruce Ratner, who opted to include it rather than erect massive driving ramps typically used at other sports venues.
“New York City real estate is scarce,” and using the system instead of ramps freed up a lot of space, explained Robert Sanna, an exec at Forest City Ratner who headed the arena’s construction.
“You might have this in big warehouses, [but] it’s one-of-a-kind certainly in sports facilities,” Sanna said. “It’s the type of equipment you need in a tight urban site to get vehicles in and out of a building without backing up traffic.”
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Nuggets coach George Karl was all smiles after his first spin.
“I like the idea. It’s a first,” said Karl, hours before Wednesday’s loss to the Nets, adding that his elevator experience felt more like a “submarine ride.”
As for the rest of the NBA, many players were in awe of the Nets’ new toy.
“I wish I would have thought about that when I built my house, because that’s some ‘007’ stuff,” Los Angeles Lakers forward Antawn Jamison told the sports blog Bleacher Report.
Superstar teammate Kobe Bryant said the system looks like it was “rigged by Willy Wonka,” while Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah called it “kind of trippy.”
“You hear so many different stories about it before you get here,” said Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade during the team’s first visit to Brooklyn last month.
“It’s cool because you don’t feel it moving.”