In 2025, the New York Liberty announced they would be building their own practice facility in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn for the 2027 WNBA season. With a little less than four months left in 2026, there are questions about whether they’ll have the facility up and running.
On Tuesday, Brooklyn-based journalist Norman Oder reported on a visit to Greenpoint, the site of the planned $80 million facility. In his story, complete with images of the construction site, he wrote:
There don’t seem to be legal or similar external challenges to the training facility, which would be built between Ash Street and Newtown Creek, just east of Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, at the northern tip of Brooklyn.
There just hasn’t been vertical progress, as shown in my photos, taken either from a distance or through windows in the construction fence. Nor has there been a formal groundbreaking ceremony or any announcement of milestones.
Oder questioned whether the original plan, which was to have the Liberty move into the new 75,000 foot facility prior to the start of the WNBA season next spring, remains viable.
[W]inter is not the best season to make up construction time.
Unless Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment shares benchmarks, any claims that the project is on track for pre-season, however, should be taken with a grain of salt.
Training camp starts on April 1. Since moving to Brooklyn, the Liberty have practiced at the small court just off the main entrance at Barclays Center
Back in May, the Liberty shared that they were making progress on the facility and started laying groundwork for the 75,000 foot facility off Manhattan Avenue on Newtown Creek. The organization assured Madeline Kenney of the New York Post that things were going according to plan, and almost four months later, that belief holds firm.
Kenney quoted Marissa Shorenstein, BSE’s external affairs vice president, as saying that foundation work at the site repesented the longest phase of construction, “so you won’t see any meaningful manifestation of the structure for quite some time.”
When the facility is ready, it’s expected to look like this:
Once the facility is up and running, it will be another big financial investment by Liberty ownership. Throughout the 2020s, the Liberty have spent big money and invested into the team and various parts of Brooklyn.
The practice facility would be a big step in helping the Liberty maintain their position as one of the top franchises in the WNBA as well as give the players on the team a new, expansive space of their own. It’s a long way to go before Opening Night 2027, and it would be a big boost to the Liberty if they can start taking bigger steps towards that new facility.
