FORT GREENE — The Brooklyn Hospital Center, the self-proclaimed "official hometown hospital of the Barclays Center," is ditching its signature purple signage for Barclays blue, but insists any connection between the new relationship and the color shift is a pigment of the imagination.
The hospital, whose website is littered with Barclays Center logos, said the new blue signs were part of a long-planned initiative.
“Those colors were part of our rebranding process that was planned years ago,” said hospital spokeswoman Catherine Derr. “We think the new signs will help the hospital be more visible to the community."
Derr added, though, that the hospital looks forward to working with its new Barclays neighbor and values the work they are doing to improve the neighborhood.
Many in the community are at war with Barclays over liquor licensing, and congressional candidates such as Charles Barron and community activist groups including Brooklyn Speaks and Atlantic Yards Watch oppose what they see as Barclays’ intrusion on the neighborhood.
Yet the hospital forges forward in welcoming the corporate giant to the community.
The hospital will open an interactive display in the Barclays center concourse, host a basketball camp for 50 kids and will sponsor "all Barclays Center promoted high-school-related events," according to a hospital press release.
Barclays would not comment on the growing relationship between the institutions.