The Golden State Warriors, currently the team with the best record in the National Basketball Association, looks like it could finally get a new arena. And according the latest proposal being floated, that arena on 12 acres would be a centerpiece for the redevelopment of the south half of San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that David Manica of Kansas City-based Manica Architecture, the lead architect on this project, earlier this month presented to the Mission Bay Citizens Advisory Committee what he admits is an incomplete design for what’s being called an “event center.”
His version—which when it was first revealed last September drew jibes that compared the arena’s shape to a toilet—is more conventional than what had been proposed for Piers 30 and 32 by the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta, whose cofounder Craig Dykers is identified the project’s senior design advisor.
Manica’s concept is circular and mostly flat. It would seat 18,000 people, and include a 24,000-sf public plaza on its southeast side and a 35,000-sf plaza on the Third Avenue side. The east edge of the site would be set up to accommodate food concessionaires and a smaller arena entrance.
This arena had been a political football for at least two years, but opposition appears to have evaporated for a plan that would make the arena a focal point of this community’s revitalization, the Chronicle reports.
Flanking its Third Street plaza would nearly 500,000 sf of office space. The plan also calls for nearly 100,000 sf of retail. “The arena project can shake things up—as a swirling silver counterpart to a static scene, and as an attraction that puts people on the streets during both day and night,” writes John King, the Chronicle’s urban design critic. “The segregation of Mission Bay into two halves, one residential and one commercial, starts to break down. There also will be a renewed emphasis on Third Street, which too much of Mission Bay treats as a back alley despite the presence of the light-rail line.”
“This should really enliven the area, and bring people from across the city and region,” adds Tiffany Bohee, executive director of the city’s Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure.
In addition to the arena plan, there are several housing projects under construction or just opened in Mission Bay. The University of California-San Francisco’s Mission Bay hospital complex opens its first phase in February.
Warriors’ management hopes to receive approvals by next fall, with construction to be complete in time for the 2018-19 basketball season.
Read more about the project at NBA.com and San Francisco Chronicle.
Related Stories
| Jan 31, 2012
Suffolk Construction to manage Lawrence & Memorial Hospital Cancer Center project in Waterford, Conn.
Leading construction management firm overseeing one of first healthcare projects in the country to utilize innovative IPD process.
| Jan 31, 2012
Perkins Eastman’s Miller appointed Chairman of the AIA International Committee
International expertise leveraged as global industry resource.
| Jan 31, 2012
KBE selected for school project in Waterbury, Conn.
Located adjacent to the existing elementary school, the $28 million, 82,000 s/f Pre-K to eighth Grade school is expected to host its first students in the fall of 2013.
| Jan 31, 2012
Construction Law Firm Allensworth & Porter, LLP adds May to the firm
Prior to joining Allensworth & Porter, May served as the staff attorney for the Texas Civil Justice League, and was responsible for drafting, analyzing, and tracking civil justice and business-related legislation during the 82nd Legislative Session.
| Jan 31, 2012
Skanska USA Civil promotes Bradley to southeast general superintendent
In Bradley’s new position, he will manage field operations for all Skanska Civil projects in the southeast.
| Jan 30, 2012
Siemens and Air-Ex Team deliver building controls training to Mt. San Antonio College students
Siemens contributes training modules and technology to support hands-on courses.
| Jan 30, 2012
Hollister Construction Services to renovate 30 Montgomery Street in Jersey City, N.J.
Owner Onyx Equities hires firm to oversee comprehensive upgrades of office building.
| Jan 27, 2012
Caterpillar reports record sales and profit for 4Q and full-year 2011
Momentum carries into 2012 with sales and revenues outlook raised to $68 to $72 billion.
| Jan 27, 2012
Smith Seckman Reid opens two new offices
Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. (SSR), an engineering design and facility consulting firm, has opened two new offices, one in Chicago, the other in Washington, D.C.
| Jan 27, 2012
BRB Architects designs new campus center for Molloy College
Intended to be the centerpiece of the College’s transformation from a commuter college to a 24-hour learning community, the “Public Square” will support student life with spaces such as a café, lounges, study rooms, student club space, a bookstore and an art gallery.