Gehry Finito as Lead Designer for AY Arena?
The Sports Business Journal had an item yesterday saying that the firm Ellerbe Becket, which has designed recent NBA Arenas in Charlotte and Memphis, might become the lead designer for the Nets arena at Atlantic Yards, thus supplanting Frank Gehry. The article said Nets “officials declined to confirm Ellerbe’s involvement or whether Gehry is still…
The Sports Business Journal had an item yesterday saying that the firm Ellerbe Becket, which has designed recent NBA Arenas in Charlotte and Memphis, might become the lead designer for the Nets arena at Atlantic Yards, thus supplanting Frank Gehry. The article said Nets “officials declined to confirm Ellerbe’s involvement or whether Gehry is still part of the project.” Ellerbe has been consulting on the arena design for the past few years. The Daily News, meanwhile, picks up on the story today and fleshes it out with a lot of interesting details. First off, a Forest City Ratner spokesperson tells the paper that Gehry’s design will be reevaluated in July to “determine whether the world-famous architect would remain on the project.” And a former Gehry employee who worked on Atlantic Yards until he was laid off from the project has this to say: “Because Gehry’s designs are fairly complex, any real changes would probably end up looking like an Ellerbe Becket project…[Gehry’s projects are] relatively difficult to execute.”
Brooklyn Bound? [Sports Business Journal]
Architectural firm Ellerbe Becket tapped to reevaluate Frank Gehry’s Atlantic Yards arena design [Daily News]
I am sure Ratner was expecting some opposition, and I am sure there were contingency plans depending on funding, politics and economics – but the sorry – the idea that the whole AY development + Gehrey design was all some grand con in order for Bruce Ratner to be able to simply build a cheapo arena is nuts.
The reality is that the arena (and affordable housing) was always a loss leader – designed to get public, political support as well as assist in the the Eminent Domain fight. If Bruce Ratner could just build AY w/o the arena he would have loved to – the profit margin would have been far higher.
If it weren’t for the anti AY types taxpayers would be on the hook to furter subsidize a chicken shit arena surrounded by surface parking lots and unecomic residential construction. If anyone was looking to buy at 1/2 the compts, AY apartments would have been the poster child for that opportunity.
most of the land acquisition costs came out of the $40,000,000(out of $110,000,000 it allocated to Atlantic Yards) the City gave Ratner…do you think he included some of the litigation costs…so I wouldn’t cry that much for Ratner….
Pretty much all the acquisition costs have been city money not Ratners…he may have advanced them but he got them back….Can I have that deal please.
and according to Marty he had the idea Ratner is only along for the ride.
BTW I am not one of the litigants although I attend Brooklyn Speaks meetings….
fsrq
Do you think Ratner anticipated the litigation and resulting delays and costs, and built it into his business plan, or do you think he was unprepared? Whether you agree or not with the opponents, any idiot could have seen the challenges coming a mile away, for all the reasons smeyer stated. There is no way that there was not going to be an organized group that saw it the way smeyer does and determined to mount a legal and political challenge. Either 1. Ratner failed to plan for the obvious, 2. was prepared for the litigation delays but not teh change in the economic and financing climate in the interim, or 3. he knew all along he was going to have to shed some of the glamor to make it work. To the extent you are attached to the Gehry arena, I just don’t see how you can blame the shedding of Gehry on the opposition, which was a given from the start.
You think after 6 years, millions of dollars spent, endless litigation and a financial collapse that this is a rational comment:
[It was always Ratner’s plan to use]”Gehry name as glamour-bait, and then switch to genero-tects to actually do the job.”
Please….
hey fsrq
takes one to know one.
Why on earth when people are making mostly rational comments your response is a personal attack on their sanity….
it was an evil plan by Ratner and frankly a stupid one. No one thinks it will ever be built as originally proposed not even Ratner any more. Lots of high rise buildings at inflated prices. Who would want to pay those amounts and live next door to a basketball arena?
Very little commercial development to appease Shelly Silver so he could get the gang of three to approve this. At least Battery park City downsized the buildings to make them more in line with those that are there now….and almost none of his own money….
I am not personally opposed to a arena/stadium but not so many people please…
Yes it was all an evil plan by Ratner….
you people are nuts
The reason its dead is the City and the State insisted on using a state procedure that by passed the City’s Ulurp process. If it had gone through the City’s Ulurp process(like Columbia is doing now)…they would have had a smaller development more open space and probably would have had some of it built by now(the State’s approval process approved the densest census track in the US). But the Mayor, two(now three) Governors and Ratner insisted that they didn’t need to listen to the people of the City of NY. Don’t blame the people who wanted a fair hearing blame those who didn’t want to take the time to listen properly.. So they got what they deserved- lawsuits and nothing built.
if it ain’t Gehry, it ain’t happening.