Gehry still on board for $4bn Brooklyn Atlantic Yards scheme

13 January, 2009

But pressure group Don’t Destroy Brooklyn insisted Gehry is no longer part of the Atlantic Yards scheme, which includes an office tower, commercial and residential space, plus a flagship $1 billion stadium for the Nets basketball team.

The group said Gehry had walked off the project after developer Bruce Ratner’s efforts to value-engineer aspects of the development, including the stadium.

“It’s pretty obvious that Ratner is desperate to cut costs and the costs of quality construction materials, and the only way to do this to find a much less expensive architect, one who designs in a less expensive way,” group spokesman Daniel Goldstein told BD.

“I think it is pretty obvious that Gehry is no longer there. Ratner did not get rid of Frank Gehry – he walked. From what I understand, Gehry and Ratner have agreed naming rights.”

But a spokesman for the award-winning architect strongly denied the allegation.

“Frank Gehry is proud of his ongoing work with the visionary Atlantic Yards team and remains dedicated to the collective pursuit of a vibrant new urban community in the heart of Brooklyn,” he said.

Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Ratner’s firm Forest City Ratner Companies, also denied the architect had been dismissed, but acknowledged that Ratner was exploring less expensive ways of building the stadium.

“We are continuing to speak with many arena experts and working hard to find ways to build a world-class venue in an incredibly difficult economic environment,” he said.

Gehry’s final design for the stadium has yet to be approved, but preliminary designs included huge glass atriums and tiers of seats resembling butterfly wings, the Wall Street Journal said.