Gehry Arena Design for Atlantic Yards Project Dropped

Published: June 5, 2009

Frank Gehry

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BROOKLYN— A Frank Gehry–designed, $1 billion glass-walled basketball arena for the Nets is now out of play at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project. The project’s developer, Bruce Ratner, has scrapped Gehry’s proposal primarily for economic reasons in favor of a less expensive design from architectural firm Ellerbe Becket.

Still, Gehry, the award-winning architect behind the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, remains the master planner for the 22-acre, $4 billion development. The arena is the centerpiece of Atlantic Yards, which has had to deal with a host of obstacles, including lawsuits and a collapsing real estate market. Ratner is trying to cut costs and start construction of the 20,000-seat arena by the end of the year. He’s also had to delay a proposed office tower and plans to build 6,400 apartments, some reserved for low- to middle-income families. The new arena design will cost about $200 million less than Gehry’s now-scuttled proposal.

Read more at the New York Times.

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