Warriors Mission Bay Arena Rendering

A Superior Court judge has just ruled in favor of the Golden State Warriors in their legal battle with the Mission Bay Alliance over building an 18,000-seat arena and event center in San Francisco’s Mission Bay.

The judgment by the Honorable Garrett L. Wong, which affirmed the City’s contested environmental review and approval process for the proposed arena and office development, was filed at 3pm.

Despite the legal challenge, the Warriors have been pushing forward with a project schedule that calls for breaking ground for “Chase Center” in the first quarter of 2017 and being substantially finished with the development by mid-2019.

If the team doesn’t break ground by the middle of 2017, the $1 billion arena won’t be ready in time for the tip off of the 2019-2020 NBA season, which is already a year later than originally planned.

49 thoughts on “Warriors Appear to Have Won the Mission Bay Arena War”
  1. Congrats. It did not look well for the MB Alliance when their PR firm quit the other day. Where is Jack Davis now when he said he would hold this up in litigation until the cows come home.

    1. Jack is likely in a disreputable establishment giving a bottle of Jack Daniels that come hither look…gawd bless ‘im.

  2. This development is not only important for MB residents, but will also help drive foot traffic and attention to other southern neighborhoods like Dogpatch and Bayview.

    1. I’m glad they’re finally going to build it, but that’s a bit of a stretch. Have you ever walked from MB to the Bayview? It’s as far as walking from the Embarcadero to the Castro. That’s not a casual stroll.

    2. I think he meant it will generate foot traffic because every car on the T-Third will be packed so nobody can get on.

      I fully support the arena project, btw. I just don’t have great expectations of the SFMTA. A thousdand times bitten, twice shy.

    1. That development may be more than a decade away unfortunately. The Giants are lobbying for state funds to get the whole lot retrofitted. It will cost billions just to make it stable enough to build on.

  3. It only appears to be over. Some things that will never ever be completed: the construction of that transit tunnel to Chinatown, the Transbay Transit Center and the Warriors arena. Never ever.

    On that Warrior’s arena, I thought they had changed the design so it doesn’t look like a toilet seat cover. The lid is down like our mothers, wives and girlfriends have trained us to leave it.

    1. yeah that chinatown subway and that transit center, both of which are currently under construction and halfway done…they’ll never happen! And that arena that’s been approved and just won a legal battle against NIMBYs trying to block it…it’ll never happen either!

      Holy delusion batman!

      PS: I’ve used many toilets in my life, and the arena reminds me of none of them.

      1. Toilet seat? Nah. It’s clearly a tortilla steamer.

        Can’t wait to go to concerts there.

    2. You literally invalidated your own comment by being blatantly wrong. The transit tunnel to Chinatown is complete. It is already beneath North Beach. They’re just building the tracks and subway infrastructure now.

      The only thing that appears to be over is xenophobic, antique SF enthusiasts controlling what gets built in this city.

    3. Really? You’re kind of out of step with what is being developed in The City. The Chinatown subway is on schedule for opening. Suggest you go down to Union Square and you can see the station being constructed. TransBay is opening next year.

      The SF Warriors new arena will be breaking ground soon and opening in 2019. Hope you will be there for the opening.

      1. I’m guessing SFresident has lived here for quite a while, and remembers when we were all discussing the transbay terminal in 1988!!; Its still under construction. Tunnel to chinatown was part of that master plan in 1988!! Yes, those are under construction now as plugged in readers have noted, but geez…

        The warriors arena has amazingly been steaming along at light-speed, but you never know. Remember – Treasure Island development will be a new community for the 21st Century!! (sales pitch from 1991…).

    4. I think you mean “the seat down” when you’re talking about training…so someone doesn’t try to sit down in the dark and fall into the water. Putting the lid down as well is just civilized.

  4. The MB Alliance is well funded and this may not be over. Per the use of “appear” in the headline here?

    An attempt at an initiative would not surprise me. The Alliance did a poll at one point showing SF residents only somewhat in favor of this. Not like the Giant’s Mission Rock effort. No 40% BMR housing component here to entice voters.

    Anyone know what all those orange fronted buildings to the left of One Berry and in the middle of the rendering are? Are they actually there today or renderings of proposed/planned buildings?

    1. Dave, the project does not include any residential so no BMR. This is an office project with the Arena. I believe they may fall into the Prop M cap though. A housing component is not needed to entice anyone.

      The last independent poll showed a 70% approval for this arena. Would not trust the MB Alliance poll or even the Warriors poll for that matter.

      As for the buildings in question, I believe they are part of the UC building complex along 3rd street.

      Hope you will be able to see a game or event at the new Arena in 2019.

    2. Sol. Statute of limitations. No chance for an initiative (actually it would have been a referendum). If the ruling isn’t appealed to appellate court, it’s game over.

    3. I was wondering what kind of ridiculous statement you’d make after all those posts claiming this would never happen.

  5. The analysis that looks at this rendering and sees *anything* except an out of context, out of scale, wrong side of history, white elephant, neighborhood killer… is the same mentality that sees a massive bleached out whale of a hair weave bellowing and thinks its presidential. Bad taste with too much money and power makes for really bad choices.

      1. …and in every case, a boil on the urban skin… a dated, KISS era *rock concert* temple mentality that totally veers from the arc of where SF is actually going. SF is full of these disasters. Too full. This monstrosity wouldn’t be on the table at all were it not that we lost our army of taste-makers to AIDS. Now we have 1% disrupter bro’s from someplace else who call out city Frisco.

        1. So if San Francisco had more gay men we wouldn’t have the arena? Are you listening to yourself? God, I hate it when someone thinks “their” people should represent and speak for an entire city.

        2. For the record, there’s a long tradition of locals calling the city Frisco, like it or not, that dates to the 19th century and never went away, especially in the poorer neighborhoods. In today’s San Francisco, the creative classes call it SF, the working class call it Frisco or SF, and tourists call it San Fran (the only option that’s blatantly wrong).

        3. If nobody checked the sexual orientation of the architect that’s clearly a huge blunder. That must be a mandate in the future. Somebody give David Campos a quick jingle, surely this is a ballot initiative waiting to happen, and right up his alley of “progressive” absurdity.

    1. Well the entire city is out of context when you think about what was there millions and millions and millions of years before. These “out of context” arguments are so fallacious.

      1. Right. Not. That mentality would have the US capitol awash in 60 story ugly like we will soon do to Market and Van Ness. Ruined neighborhoods, ruined site lines, ruined open spaces, ruined daylight. A ruined city. Alma de Bretteville Spreckels would serve your mentality on a fishy platter. And she passed the same year as Kennedy and King, so don’t discount the possibility of ghostly intervention.

        1. I agree that the 1% bros seem to be controlling what “urban” amenities this city “must” have. I could care less about the Warriors and would rather have the energy and funds used to make Transbay a REAL regional transit hub instead for MUNI, BART, Caltrain, etc. Sports Arenas “saving” lifeless downtown neighborhoods was a 1990’s fad and yet here we go again.

          1. The arena is being built by private funds. Not sure how that fits into your ‘energy & funds’ argument. The only major funds the city is on the hook for is improving transit, which is needed anyway.

          2. Actually, take a look at how much is being spent on the Transbay now and you should be asking why it isn’t a real transit hub for the dollars being spent already? A lot of money being sunk into a glorified bus shed. No one is questioning why? or the multi million dollar loans just to finance the overruns to date? Or the fact that bus ridership is shrinking outside of San Fran and believe that some inter agency service, express bus services have been cancelled due to lack of use

            Certainly not Mayor Lee. He is stalling Caltrain entering Transbay for a future realignment that will cost several billions more but free up land to sell. Convince taxpayers to cough up $4-5 dollars so city can reap $1 on the investment. In the meantime, caltrain is going forward with electrification that will bring better, quicker and more frequent service into San Fran & the benefits will not extend nor will HSR to Transbay.

    2. Please let us know if this city ever starts to become less “unlivable” for you, so we can hurry up and fix it.

  6. For all those complaining about how “real San Franciscans” don’t want this and “tech bros” do, you realize those transient tech bros all came to San Francisco with their Lakers, Knicks, Heat, and Cavaliers loyalty, correct? And that the Warriors have been a beloved staple of the Bay Area working class, including the majority of “Real San Franciscans”, for decades and decades? And that most polls that AREN’T conducted by the Mission Bay Alliance show that the overwhelming majority of this city including “real San Franciscans” are wildly in favor of this?

    Your personal prejudices against sports aside, the city wants this, from the rich to the poor. It’s completely privately financed. The Warriors have all the good will in the world in this region at the moment, and considering the absolute “holy sh*t they’re so good” juggernaut they just assembled with Durant, they will be the region’s darlings for the foreseeable future.

    The battle is over. It’s done. And you absolutely do not speak “for the people” on this one.

    1. It’s true. I’m too old to be a “bro” and I’ve lived in SF 20 years too long to be “transient” but I am technically “tech” and I don’t give a donkey plum about the Warriors. However, the arena will be great for the neighborhood and the city. For one, I’m sick of having to go to San Jose or Oakland for big-name concerts.

  7. A long nba work stoppage coinciding with the local bubble deflating might give pause to those financing the stadium. The small market teams are going to force a lockout in fall 2017 as they try to change the CBA in ways to prevent veteran star players from choosing their employer.

    1. There will be no lockout. Too many players got PAID the past two summers, and every single owner is making tens of millions in profits every year. The NBA has never been more popular with the ginormous TV deal that has gone into effect. Neither side – players union nor owners – want a lockout and lose money. A new CBA will be done in the next twelve months – Book it.

  8. If only we could find a remote suburb to build this in so we can all tailgate in our cars before games…

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