The New Atlantic Yards: Less Pretty, More Pricey

Two and a half years after receiving the go-ahead to build a $4 billion complex of apartments and a Nets basketball arena, developer Forest City Ratner is back with a modified plan, trying, once again, to wrap up approvals and to get financing for the project.

The plan has been heavily battered by the recession and rising costs: Star architect Frank Gehry was once promised and relentlessly advertised as designer of the whole project, including the arena—now he’s out, on account of costs. Payments to the public sector—in the form of cash up front and a new rail yard for the M.T.A., have been delayed and curtailed, respectively. The housing is slated to start after the arena starts. And the total price tag now is estimated in state documents at about $4.9 billion, up from $4 billion.

Tuesday, the state released some early renderings of the new, trimmed down and less attractive arena by arena architect Ellerbe Becket (The Times architecture critic called it a “stunning bait-and-switch”).

ebrown@observer.com