The New Jersey Nets hope to become the Brooklyn Nets in time for the 2011-12 NBA season. But they still face legal challenges on the property they want to use in Brooklyn, and there are buildings up with people living in them that must be cleared away before the arena can be built.

Also in 2009 famous architect Frank Gehry pulled out of the project, taking his beautiful design with him. The new designs aren't expected to be anything close to as nice.

This process has been dragging on for years and until the team actually breaks ground in Brooklyn, InsideHoops.com suggests fans avoid holding their breath. There have been rumors over the last year or two that the team may have to give up making the move and instead focus on playing in Newark, New Jersey. But the Nets on every level insist the move to Brooklyn will happen and they aren't planning for anything else.

Now in late September it appears the Nets will be sold to a Russian billionaire. See below.

LATEST BROOKLYN NETS NEWS

Sept. 24, 2009: The Newark Star-Ledger reports: The New Jersey Nets appeared closer than ever to a move to Brooklyn Wednesday after Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to purchase 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of a proposed arena by pouring $200 million into the cash-depleted venture spearheaded by Nets principal owner Bruce Ratner. Under the agreement, Ratner’s Forest City Enterprises group will retain controlling interest in the proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn but relinquish authority over basketball operations. It also will give Prokhorov’s Onexim Group the right to purchase up to 20 percent of the Atlantic Yards Development Company, which will develop the area around the proposed $800 million arena. The deal is contingent upon the National Basketball Association’s approval of Prokhorov and the Nets’ move to Brooklyn, which still faces two major obstacles: an Oct. 14 hearing in the New York State Court of Appeals regarding eminent domain issues, and a December deadline to break ground or lose access to financing from tax-free bonds.

Sept. 9, 2009: Rich Calder of the New York Post reports: Developer Bruce Ratner today unveiled his latest vision for a controversial plan to build an NBA arena in Brooklyn – a new glass-and steel design he hopes will help the public forget the key loss of star architect Frank Gehry from the embattled project. The new renderings are a collaboration between the Kansas City-based firm Ellerbe Becket and Manhattan-based SHoP Architects. Ratner brought in SHoP to assist Ellerbe Becket, which was hired earlier this year to replace Gehry and design a thriftier version of the planned Barclays Center.

More from the New York Post: Opponents have also accused Ratner of trying to pull a bait-and-switch on the public by firing Gehry, whose magnificent glass-and steel arena design was approved by state officials in Dec. 2006. Gehry was let go to shave arena costs from $950 million to $772 million. The arena is the centerpiece of the developer’s $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project for Prospect Heights that also includes 16 office and residential towers. It has been stalled by litigation and the national credit crunch.

More from the Post: Ratner is in a race against the clock to salvage a scaled-down version of a project he first proposed in Dec. 2003. He has to break ground on the arena by the end of the year to secure $650 million in tax-free financing for the arena; otherwise the cost could rise by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Associated Press reports: In drawings and models, the woven steel bands give the building the appearance of being covered in wicker. People arriving for basketball games or concerts will enter the building beneath a huge overhang that cantilevers over a public plaza. Some glimpses of the interior stadium bowl and the scoreboard will be visible from the street.

The AP reports: Critics of the project include homeowners whose property is being seized by the government to make way for construction and many other city residents who think the development will be too disruptive for the residential neighborhood.

The new Brooklyn Nets arena design photos are here.

May 15, 2009: The New York Times reports: An hour after learning that a state appeals court had dismissed a major challenge to his long-delayed Atlantic Yards development project, the developer Bruce C. Ratner said he planned to break ground by October on an $800 million basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets in Brooklyn. The 20,000-seat arena is only one piece of a proposed 22-acre development at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues that would include an office tower and more than 6,000 apartments, including as many as 2,250 for low- and middle-income families. Given the anemic economy, the housing and the commercial building may have to wait for some time. But Mr. Ratner said he planned to complete the design for the arena, obtain final government approvals and issue the bonds for the project by fall.

OLDER BROOKLYN NETS NEWS FROM EARLIER IN 2009

The New Jersey Nets plan on eventually moving to Brooklyn, New York. There's no guarantee the team will be called the Brooklyn Nets once they do move, but we at InsideHoops.com like the sound of the Brooklyn Nets name and hope it gets used.

The move, which will bring the Nets to the Atlantic Yards area in Brooklyn, is taking a long time. There are still people living in homes where the eventual arena complex will be. They need to have their homes sold, get paid, move and clear out, so the entire land area can be torn down for the complex to be built.

As far as we've heard, the key political hurdles have already been handled, though lawsuits against the project still exist. We haven't recently looked into the details or how serious an obstacle they may be.

It'll be much easier for New Yorkers to get to Nets games once the team moves to Brooklyn. A big stack of subway lines will go right near the arena. People from all across Manhattan will get there with ease. But, it'll be very hard for people from New Jersey to attend the games, unless they live in the part of Jersey that's right near NYC.

We haven't timed the ride, but a general estimate is, if someone is in midtown Manhattan and takes the subway to where the arena will be, it'll probably be around 20 minutes. Maybe 30 at the most. From downtown Manhattan it'll be even quicker, like maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

If people come from Jersey and drive, they're probably better off parking in Manhattan and taking the subway to Brooklyn, instead of driving all the way to the arena.

As of early 2008, the earliest the Brooklyn Nets will exist will be sometime in 2010. Probably mid or late 2010. But that seems overly optimistic at this point since it's a giant project that isn't even close to starting yet. We're guessing it won't really happen until 2011 or even 2012.

The Atlantic Yards Brooklyn Nets development isn't just going to be a basketball arena. It'll have "middle-income and market-rate housing," commercial offices, shopping, a hotel, and wide open space on over 8 acres of land.

The developer, Forest City Ratner Companies, hired world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and landscape architect Laurie Olin to make it happen.

The cost of the project is apparently going to be in excess of $4 billion.

The eventual Brooklyn Nets arena does have a name. It'll be the Barclays Center, sponsored by the bank.

The Brooklyn Nets location will be at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, and bounded by Pacific and Dean Streets and Vanderbilt Avenue. It'll span 22 acres. Including the arena, the entire complex will be 17 separate buildings.

There will be 336,000 square feet of office space, and 6.36 million square feet of residential space. The arena will be 850,000 square feet. There will be 247,000 square feet of retail space. And the hotel will be 165,000 square feet.