Those who know me know that I think the scale of the Atlantic Yards project is ridiculous, so I was happy to read that Ratner is sheepishly admitting to the New York Times that maybe, possibly he’ll be chucking huge sections of it, including the main office tower “Miss Brooklyn.”

Of all the victims of the current credit crisis, none could be more deserving:

Mr. Ratner insisted that the Brooklyn office market remained healthy, but he conceded that “until we get a tenant, we won’t start Miss Brooklyn.”

“It’s not going to happen in a nanosecond,” Mr. Ratner said during an interview across Atlantic Avenue from the railyard where he plans to build the arena. “I hope it’s not going to be drawn out. I’d hope that the first residential building will be done within six months of the opening of the arena, and a second one a year after that.”

The project, at its largest, consisted of 16 (yes, 16) skyscrapers and a basketball arena in the middle of a neighborhood full of mostly 5-ish story buildings. Because that makes sense.

People were sold on the project because of the promise of “affordable housing” (needed) and a cool basketball team for Brooklyn (not needed, but wanted.) We’re probably still stuck with it, but this NYT article gives me hope that whatever finally gets built will be smaller (and cooler) than the current plan.