Was Frank Gehry’s Design rejected after over a decade?!

Was Frank Gehry’s Design rejected after over a decade?!

“She says I build models, She doesn’t have a clue as to what I do or how I do it. It’s fine. It’s a new group. They should do what they want. I don’t want to go where I’m not wanted.”  This is what Frank Gehry told the  New York Times regarding Maggie Boepple, the president of the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center who he felt did not appreciate his work. Of course Ms. Boepple refused to respond.

So, YES.  It is true, after more than 10 years of Gehry being selected to design the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, the new board members found that Gehry’s design was no longer an option. “We’re in the process of selecting a new architect,” said John E. Zuccotti, the real estate developer who is the chairman of the arts center’s board to the New York Times .“Three architectural firms are being considered.” However, it is undeniable and absolutely official that the list does not include Frank Gehry.

Another problem was the financial issues of course, according to the New York Times progress has been stalled by fund-raising issues as well as by delays in the completion of the new transit hub under construction at the site. The arts center is still waiting to receive $99 million of the $100 million in federal funds that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which oversees the former World Trade Center site, had set aside for it; $1 million has been spent on staff.

Because Mr. Gehry’s payments have been woven into engineering costs and other expenses, the development corporation said that it is difficult to work out what the architect has been paid so far. Mr. Gehry and consultants working with his firm are known to have withdrawn over $2 million of $4.5 million originally allocated for his early work by the development corporation, and nearly $2 million of a new $5.9 million contract with the city, which took over the project.