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]
