June 04, 2009

Nets ditch Gehry for cheaper option; can this save Atlantic Yards?

In a development that surprised exactly one guy who was living under a rock, the New York Times revealed today that New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner has ditched Frank Gehry's design for a Brooklyn basketball arena, and will instead attempt to move ahead with a cheaper design by Ellerbe Becket, architect of several other NBA arenas. The revelation comes six months after Gehry quit the project, and a week after Sports Business Journal predicted that Ellerbe Becket would be taking over.

So what does this mean, other than that future Nets arena renderings will look more like a basketball arena and less like a game of Jenga? The Ellerbe design is expected to come in at $800 million as opposed to Gehry's final price tag of $1 billion, which is indeed cheaper, but still crazy expensive in the post-bubble sports economy. Just yesterday, Forbes gave the arena only a 50-50 chance of getting done, citing specifically the changed economic and credit climate: "I don't know of a single venue that has been financed since last summer," says sports law expert Gary Roberts told the magazine. "In normal times, I'd see it as very likely to get done, but there are enough variables that you can't bet the ranch."