The Golden State Warriors are jumping across the bay, with plans for a privately financed, $500 million waterfront arena that would allow the team to play its home games in San Francisco for the first time in more than four decades.
The NBA franchise would leave Oakland for a 17,000- to 19,000-seat arena that would be built on Piers 30-32 near the foot of the Bay Bridge, a short walk from downtown, and open in time for the 2017-18 season.
“It is going to happen – let there be no doubt,” Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob said Monday.
The arena would also host conventions and entertainment events such as concerts, Lacob said. Plans for the site also include 100,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space.
Although the actual design has yet to be worked up, team President and CEO Rick Welts said that “this will be an architecturally significant building, resting on an iconic site.”
— Reported by Phillip Matier of the San Francisco Chronicle
