SAN FRANCISCO | Golden State Warriors Arena
 

Warriors to build new arena, move back to S.F.

SFGate.com
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

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How can you build an arena on top of a pier?

I mean, it could be done, but you would need a massively reinforced new pier, and you certainly couldn't do it for $500 million. A conventional urban arena on "dry land" costs upwards of a billion.

It would be very cool if it could be done, but I would guess this would cost bare minimum $1.5 billion in 2012 dollars when all is said and done. That's serious cash, but they're VC guys, so maybe they don't mind it.

The Barclays Center in Brooklyn costs a little over $1 billion, and has no radical engineering issues. The MSG renovation in Manhattan (which is really only a temporary stopgap until they eventually relocate) will cost nearly $1 billion.

Edmonton is building a top-of-the-line arena for less than 500 million. Our cost of labour is likely higher and spottier than in SF.

I moved the thread since the discussion has turned rather quickly to only the arena. You can link to a new thread about only the relocation of the Golden State Warriors in the Skybar.

And what would make you say that?

There have been several new arenas constructed within the last 10 years that cost FAR less than $1.5 billion in 2012 dollars.

Edmonton has major trade shortages, most of it tied up in multi-billion dollar upgrader projects and work in Fort McMurray. Wages typically start 35 dollars an hour on these projects so they have quite the draw.

A conventional basketball arena does not cost a billion dollars. Amway Center in Orlando is only two years old and was less than $500 million.

I'm really excited this is happening! It helps take the sting out of the 49er's move, and a basketball arena is much better for the city in general because it opens up a number of entertainment options that the city didn't previously have (just imagine the Madonna concerts here!).

Average construction labor in the Bay Area is probably quite a bit more than that for a project like this (in other words, not a project that can use undocumented labor). Being on state-owned port property they'll likely have to use all union labor, which could quickly rise to double that or more.

None of those arenas were built on a 100 year old rotting pier in a seismic zone on the shore of one of the most expensive urban centers in the country though. They've still got multiple years of lawsuits to get through (an arena blocking some views of the Bay? Dozens will be filed, many by folks with very, VERY deep pockets).

All of that said, I like this idea and location - hope it happens. I'm just skeptical at this point.

Those renderings look much better than I expected. It’s a spectacular location for an arena. Still, even with the entire SF political machinery behind the project, it’s going to be an uphill battle to get all the approvals.

I imagine the Warriors will have to grease the wheels a bit to get their approvals. Tossing some money to affordable housing, public transportation, wetlands restoration, etc. will probably be necessary to get a project like this approved.

FYI, the Warriors have posted ridiculously high resolution images of those drawings online (images are 25-40 MB each):

http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/.ele...ing1_HiRes.jpg
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I love this concept and am glad the Warriors are moving back to SF and are picking a bay view location.

My only complaint is the renderings. The Warriors kept druming it up like it was going to be architecturally significant. Although it has a nice open glass view on the one side, this looks to be a basic arena that would be in the lower tier of the NBA if it weren't on the pier. I hope these are just basic outlines/ place holders for a better design.

Overall, great work. What will happen to Oracle Arena after 2017? Will the Warriors give up the territorial rights to Oakland if another team were to want to relocate there?

Will another team be interested in relocating to Oakland, particularly when other sports franchises appear to be leaving? And if there are any available NBA teams, might they head up the coast to Seattle? Or maybe to the nice new arena in Kansas City? Inland Empire? I'm guessing the Warriors wouldn't be particularly interested in any Bay area competition either.

Warriors face many hurdles in building S.F. arena

SFGate.com
Heather Knight,John Coté
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

fantastic that this project would be done, maybe some Olympic games in the future could be in the city. :fireworks

Given the location, I'd like to see something a bit more iconic in the roof shape, but otherwise a great project in terms of infrastructure. They should have game day ferries as well from other piers and east bay locations.

...not that I actually believe that this will get built in the next 10 years...

This is more of a massing study to show how it relates to the pier and the city in general. I don't think an architect has even been hired, so there should be a lot of changes in the coming years.

Also, I heard on the radio that a ferry dock will be part of the plan.

^That's what I've read as well. These aren't real designs at all. Just some sketches to get the imagination going.

I'm with Gordo on all of this: very excited, but also very dubious. They have Coastal Commission, Bay Commission, Port of SF and city approvals to get through. Not to mention the residents of the area who are already voicing concerns about traffic, parking, views, access, etc. I think their timeline is a fantasy, but if they can tough it out through a laborious approval process, they might get there some day.

An arena would be a great adjunct to the convention center (for larger events). For example, Oracle would no longer need to run busses out to TI for their OpenWorld parties. Unfortunately for Oakland, the arena that bears that corporate name will suddenly find itself getting skipped for much more than just basketball games if this happens. Many of the acts that normally use it will shift those over to this arena instead.

As for building on piers, I've read that they need about $100M of work to be ready to build upon and the arena should cost about $500M on top of that. Not sure if it's mentioned above somewhere, but the Warriors are also after the parking lot across the street, which is currently zoned for residential. That would certainly help offset some of the cost for them.

personally I'd rather have seen the 49ers build a stadium in the area (perhaps on the Giants' parking lots across the bridge, south of the ballpark....and send the Warriors to Santa Clara.

No team has ever been so attached to and so much about San Francisco as the oldest (by far) professional franchise in the west, the 49ers.

Snohetta was chosen to design the new Warriors arena! I have high hopes for this one.

That is very promising! I like their work. In other news, the Port Commission has set-up a community advisory committee to ensure neighbors of the project are involved and heard. Hopefully, that will help keep everyone happy while keeping the project on track. Here's the website if you want to keep abreast of the community-involvement process.

it'll be a tall order to compete with barclays center in brooklyn, but i'm pretty confident that we'll get an audacious design from the scandinavian team, which would go a long way to silencing the doubters. think of it: for a crew like snohetta, this is a career-making opportunity to create a globally-iconic building. sure, moma is huge, but this is something that could show up in elementary school textbooks in yemen if it's good enough. one can only assume that these folks will go to the styx and back to deliver an iconic design for us.

I love the project and it stretching activity along the embarcadero, and that location with a great design would be stunning. Cant wait to see it....

Ugh, scratch that. I just read that Sue Hestor was at the first meeting. Forget about this being productive in any way and prepare for nonsensical lawsuits. I didn't see her name on the committee roster, but she was quoted in a Matier & Ross article.

New specs and renderings were unveiled by Snohetta today:

http://www.nba.com/warriors/sf?venue

http://i.imgur.com/65b87.jpg

a few immediate thoughts:
1) hard to see the ferry stop, one would hope that it'd be better integrated or dropped completely, given that the ferry building is itself in such close proximity;
2) massing for the buildings on the opposite triangle are obviously designed to placate opposition from that quarter, and we already know that there'll be quite a large number of parking spaces there, pleasing neighbors immensely, even if it's all wrong;
3) the small building footprints and insane amount of plaza/public space are smart, very much what people want from the waterfront and greatly lessening the load the city backers will have to carry to push it forward;
4) the design is intelligent for this town: if it were super flamboyant, there'd be opposition on the basis of overly iconic and waterfront-changing grounds, if it weren't fairly spectacular, the movers would have trouble getting the plebs behind it. it strikes just the right balance.
5) finally, the white/gray theme is interesting in the context, not particularly consistent, it'd be interesting to see how this one pushes the waterfront forward (exploratorium and the cruise ship terminal were/are just depressing).

I don't have a problem with the area around the arena itself. I especially like the kayak and canoe loading area. But as far as the arena itself goes, that was a complete letdown. It looks like they tried to use a Cowboys Stadium futuristic design and ended up with the BOK Center in Tulsa. Would have liked to have seen something much better.

More renderings from sfgate's article:

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While I like the design of the arena, that is not the final design. This round of design was mainly used for planning how the area will be laid out. Detailed design work for the arena is still to come. Read the full article for a more detailed description.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/...ng-3951484.php

More details and better pics from WILLYGTO1 at SSC

Fantastic location...


http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=6306

Unveiled> Golden State Warriors Arena
Snohetta and AECOM reveal conceptual scheme for dramatic waterfront facility in San Francisco



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Apparently the Giants are now against this arena going in at piers 30-32. So lame:

Really don't like this design, although the location is incredible. Just looks like an amorphous metallic blob. Considering what a great view of the bay this would eprovide, I'd like to see the interior windows look more like the earlier rendering:

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0522...nt_gb1_600.jpg

I hope they alter the hell out of this one.

Snøhetta architect Craig Dykers discusses his design concepts for the new Warriors arena on YouTube.

Not a lot of new info, but interesting to hear his thoughts on the architecture.

That design looks very nice!

I was wondering when this would happen. And it looks like it might! :)

agh, it sounds like a lot of what he talks about is now having to be re-worked

^Yeah, especially the views of the Bay Bridge from the south that they were trying to frame between the buildings. But I do like the idea of a back-up cruise ship terminal, which also could improve ferry docking as well. If it enables the approval from the Coastal Commission, it will be worth the delay.

I liked the location of the arena so I hope the design still turns out great. But if moving it means we get more stakeholders on board then I guess that's what it takes.

I'm predicting this will be the NIMBY shitshow of the decade. They gotta come out with all guns blazing.

Meh, I'm a bit optimistic. There aren't that many "NIMBYs" in that area since it's fairly new. Lots of ppl who are new to SF and more traffic and commerce in the area would tend to raise property values. Plus, the arena doesn't really block views.

I do think that public transit and traffic in that area needs to be improved ASAP if they want an arena there. Embarcadero -> NBA arena -> MLB stadium -> 4th Caltrain station, along with tons of high rise and mid-rise condos along the way means a ton of traffic

So is this still the final plan for the design or is it still just a placeholder? I'm also curious when the Warriors will release interior photos of the court area.

New group just launced to SUPPORT this epic arena. I think this could potentially be the NIMBY shitfit of the decade, and I intend to personally spend time to make sure this masterpiece gets built (and also end the long and annoying treks to the Oracle Arena and HP Pavillion for concerts).

http://sfappeal.com/2013/04/group-la...arriors-arena/
http://www.warriorsonthewaterfront.com

Yes--we really need a cool place for concerts in the City--an arena has definitely been missing from the scene and this could be one of the best!

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/21/34/43...e_headline.jpg

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/m...#ixzz2SQK5dYKc

I love the cladding but I'm skeptical they can actually get that tiled look.

I think it's possible. Here's another building (WTC Pavillion) by Snohetta:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3222417...3759/lightbox/

I'm not saying it's exact, but it definitely looks possible.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/.ele...505-10-925.jpg
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More below:
http://www.nba.com/warriors/sf?venue#_

I'm totally drooling--it's super sexy--please let it happen!! :worship:

Wow that is beautiful- Go SF!!

It's a piece of art, public space, an arena, and a destination. LOVE the design.