Atlantic Yards arena security scare: Special glass alone would cost $625 per sq. foot
By Jotham Sederstrom

The stratospheric cost of protecting the Atlantic Yards from terrorist attacks could be the death knell for architect Frank Gehry's flashy NBA basketball arena, the Daily News has learned.

The bulletproof glass facade proposed for the glitzy arena will cost a mind-blowing $625 per square foot, a source familiar with the designs told The News.

"I think the owners clearly didn't have their financing tied down for this project, and that's going to be the biggest hurdle," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the sky-high prices associated with securing the 850,000-square-foot arena against terrorism.

"With the security concerns at the arena, there's not much you can do to make it that much cheaper," added the source.

As The News first reported last month, developer Forest City Ratner has hired value engineers to find ways to cut costs at the $4.2billion development project.

Sources close to the project said the cost of reinforcing the arena's thick glass with a ballistic-resistant glaze shocked even Gehry's own designers.

"The office was very surprised at how expensive the glass configurations actually were," said the source, who added the arena's price tag jumped from $637 million to $950 million because of the cost of protecting it from attack.

The Police Department, the New York State Office of Homeland Security and Forest City Ratner met to discuss security at the arena in early 2008, a Homeland Security spokeswoman confirmed.

Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco declined to discuss security matters at the project, but a source close to the developer said security and other matters have made the arena too expensive to build.

"Security is one component of the cost of the arena, but by no means the most significant," said the source. "There are a whole host of reasons why the current design is expensive, including the size, the signature look and the materials. It would be very difficult to fund this arena in this economic environment."

Opponents of the 22-acre project, who filed a 2007 lawsuit demanding safety precautions be made public, renewed their call for Forest City Ratner and state authorities to answer questions about safety risks at the site.

"We've asserted for years the arena would require terrorism security mitigation with significant impacts," said Daniel Goldstein, a member of the anti-Yards group Develop Don't Destroy.

Daily News explains leap in arena costs based on security issue

In December, I questioned why the planned Atlantic Yards arena had jumped from $637.2 million to $950 million arena, wondering if the cost had been goosed to increase the amount of tax-exempt bonds, whether the whole project had increased drastically in cost, or whether the original figure in the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) documents was off.

After all, the rapid escalation of the cost of the arena significantly outpaced local inflation in construction costs.

Today, the Daily News has an answer: security.
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PACB second look?

The revelation adds fuel to the request last June by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn for the Public Authorities Control Board to take a second look at its approval of the project.

Maybe the ESDC should do so as well. After all, the project that both bodies approved did not have the right price tag.