The Atlantic Yards has been through a number of iterations, including one by the Post entitled Atlantic Lots, which was developed with the MAS. But today’s rendering by the paper is perhaps its slyest yet, taking a proclamation by “biggest cheeleader” Borough President Marty Markowitz, who called for the project to be clad in brownstone as a cost-saving measure.

The comment came after rumors circulated that not only was Frank Gehry’s staff off the project, but so was the architect himself. Bruce Ratner, the project’s developer, admitted that a cost-engineering firm had been hired–though as much of the press incorrectly presumed, this has little to do with the employment status of the project lead–and said later that he would consider Markowitz’s proposal.

And yet, neither agreed to comment on the Post‘s renderings when contacted by the paper. (Reporter Rich Calder said in an email that a firm in the city did the mock-up, though he would not identify which one, at the architect’s behest.) Dan Goldstein, head of anti-Yards group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, was happy to fill the void, calling the project’s demise once again.

“With its substantial legal and financial obstacles, the Atlantic Yards proposal is on life support,” Goldstein said. “It is time for the Paterson Administration to pull the plug.

Naturally, Curbed had its own Romantic ideas about the whole affair.

And if the whole brownstone saga weren’t strange enough, No Land Grab picked up an interesting tidbit from a profile of retiring Miami Heat center Alonso Mourning, who said that after being traded to the Nets, where he expected to win a championship, the team subsequently took a nosedive.

When he asked Ratner what was going on, Mourning said the Nets owner and Atlantic Yards developer told him that moving the team to Brooklyn was his sole priority, not winning games. (h/t AYR)