Atlantic Yards Architect Gehry Doubts Project Will Be Built

Gehry Doubts Atlantic Yards Will Be Built

Atlantic Yards architect Frank Gehry yesterday indicated that "he now believes it will never be built because of the economic downturn," according to Rich Calder of the N.Y. POST. Gehry, in an interview with The Architect's Newspaper, referred to the Atlantic Yards project, which is slated to include the Barclays Center for the Nets, as "one of several 'unrealized commissions' he most wishes had been built." Gehry in the interview said, "I don't think it's going to happen. ... That would be devastating to me." However, Forest City Ratner CEO and Nets Owner Bruce Ratner, who is developing the project, last night in a statement said, "Atlantic Yards will get built." Gehry later last night "backtracked" on his interview, saying that his comments were "'misconstrued as a prediction' about the project and that he remains 'hopeful it will come to fruition'" (N.Y. POST, 3/25). Ratner in the statement said in part, "We've prevailed in 22 judicial decisions and are ready to proceed even at a time when other projects and industries have faltered. ... There has never been a time when this project is more important to the people of the state and the city of New York and the borough of Brooklyn" (NJ.com, 3/24).