From the New York Times:

The rumor this week concerning the troubled Atlantic Yards project near
Downtown Brooklyn had the developer firing the famed architect Frank Gehry, who designed the project’s centerpiece: a $1 billion basketball arena.

The developer, Forest City Ratner, emphatically denied on Thursday that it had gotten rid of Mr. Gehry,
but acknowledged that it was exploring less expensive ways to build an
arena for the Nets basketball team.

Executives are concerned that even
if they are able to overcome a pending legal challenge, it would be
hard to finance what would be the most expensive arena in the world.

“Frank
Gehry has not been removed from the project,” said Joe DePlasco, a
spokesman for Forest City. “We are continuing to speak with many arena
experts and working hard to find ways to build a world class venue in
an incredibly difficult economic environment.”

It is only the latest setback for the ambitious project. Last March, Bruce C. Ratner,
chairman of Forest City Ratner, said that a weak economy was hobbling
his efforts. He said then that he would start building the
glass-enclosed arena designed by Mr. Gehry, but the apartment houses
would proceed more slowly, while a planned office tower would not go up
until he found an anchor tenant.

Last month, Forest City
Ratner stopped all site-work for the 22-acre project, until a court
rules, presumably in the spring, on a lawsuit brought by opponents. And
there were reports that Mr. Gehry, who is based in Los Angeles, laid
off two dozen people who had worked on Atlantic Yards just before
Thanksgiving.