Gehry Proclaims Atlantic Yards Dead

In what may be one of the worst pieces of news for the embattled Bruce Ratner, his star-architect (or starchitect) Frank Gehry said that the controversial Atlantic Yards development is kaput. Well, he didn't say "kaput" but the answer was just as bad.

From The NY Daily News:

Asked by a trade paper about "unrealized commissions" he most wishes had been built, famed 80-year-old architect Frank Gehry brought up Atlantic Yards.

"I don't think it's going to happen," he told the Architect's Newspaper in an interview published online.

The comment suggests the troubled relationship between Gehry and developer Bruce Ratner is over.

"While Ratner's project is a big question mark, it appears to be clear that his star architect - a key selling point for the project, its sponsors and Barclays bank - is no longer working on the project," said Daniel Goldstein, a member of the anti-Yards group Develop Don't Destroy.

Atlantic Yards probablity of being built has diminished for the last year or so and the current state of the economy has helped drive it into the ground for good. Credit is tight, construction costs have risen, but most importantly, the controversy of the development helped keep the project in question just long enough to help quash Ratner's dreams. Now he'll try to build something a lot smaller and less grand, but this is where a competent city government would come in and restore some order. Of course, as long as Marty Markowitz is around that possibility is quite slim.

Atlantic Yards Now Further From Ever Being Built

When it comes to Atlantic Yards, anything negative for Frank Gehry or Bruce Ratner is good news to me. Ratner has his share of economic and legal malaise lately, stalling the project that has left a large chunk of downtown Brooklyn abandoned. Well now the economy has claimed a portion of Frank Gehry's workforce.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Frank Gehry laid off more than two dozen staffers in late November after client Forest City Ratner ordered the architect to put down his pencils on the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, according to people familiar with the matter. A Gehry Partners LLP spokeswoman declined to comment.[...]

Forest City Ratner's parent, Forest City Enterprises Inc., said last week that it has cut off its new development pipeline, except for Atlantic Yards. But the project faces challenges given the recession and the financial markets. A $153 million land loan from Gramercy Capital Corp. that has accrued to $177 million, is due at the beginning of February. Forest City is in talks with Gramercy to extend the loan.

If I were Gramercy, I'd find them in default. With all of the hurdles that Ratner faces, letting him off the hook for an extended period of time is a bad idea from an investor's standpoint. Ratner has done enough damage to our city (along with the politicians that help him), so putting Forest Ratner out of its misery wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.