The park may have cost a lot, but it sure seems like it was built on the cheap. It certainly doesn't appear as lush on the outside as the new Yankee Stadium.
On Citi's facade, prefabricated slabs that lock together like legos take the place of actual brick-or-stone work. Attention to detail and color scheme on the outside is limited to the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Away from it the arched windows give way to hollow rectangles and dark red gives way to light beige-all the better to see rusty water stains with.
Unlike at Ebbets Field, where the facade rose up gracefully to meet the roof, giving the structure a sense of completion and cohesion, Citi's facade ends abruptly 3/4 of the way up, exposing the backs of the rows of seats and thus resembling the bleachers of a high school football stadium.
And it appears they just gave up when it came the back of the stadium, which faces the Whitestone Expressway. Actually, if it weren't for the exposed backs of the seats, it could pass for any suburban office building or truck distribution center.
While I took these pictures before the season started, I believe they are quite close to representative of how the park currently appears. But yeah, the food's good, which ensures that the Wilpon/Coupons will make more money per game this season despite the vastly lowered capacity. And money is really the one and only reason a new ballpark was built. Which is fine, but again, when your competition across town builds a new park too, and there is money to burn in construction, you better make sure you make yours nicer.
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