I'm having a bout of insomnia, so here I am, checking the New York Times in the hope I'll fall asleep from simple boredom. But no, there's news.

Citing financial concerns, the developer of the long-delayed Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn has scrapped plans for a Frank Gehry-designed $1 billion glass-walled basketball arena for the Nets in favor of a less expensive arena.

The new design, which will cost about $200 million less, comes from Ellerbe Becket, an architectural firm based in Kansas City, Mo., that specializes in convention centers, stadiums and arenas and designed Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where the Indiana Pacers play. Officials who have seen the design say that while it resembles Conseco Fieldhouse it also bears a likeness to an “airplane hangar.”

snip...

The developer is under pressure to get government approval for changes to the development’s master plan and to start the arena by December, before he loses the ability to use tax-exempt bonds. Mr. Ratner must also hold together a group of corporate advertisers at a time when companies are trying to shed those kind of financial obligations.

If the local opposition plays its cards right, and Bruce Ratner's project continues what is obviously a slow but accelerating disintegration, Atlantic Yards will be dead by January.