A new Golden State Warriors arena could open a year earlier than the planned 2018-2019 window if work begins soon on the project, says team co-owner Joe Lacob.
It’s been a long haul for Warriors owners Lacob and Peter Guber, who first pitched San Francisco officials on a new Warriors arena on Piers 30-32, on the waterfront north of AT&T Park. After an outcry from property owners not wishing to have their views of the waterfront marred by a futuristic arena, the Warriors shifted their attention to a Mission Bay location, land owned by Salesforce and its CEO, Marc Benioff. The land was acquired, and the pair began planning for a new arena at that location. It sounds like plans are well underway — so well underway Lacob says it could open a season early if all goes right. From the San Jose Mercury News:
Lacob said the arena project costs $800 million and that including office and retail space the price tag in privately financed dollars is “well over a billion.”
“We’re going to put a shovel in the ground, assuming the bureaucrats don’t slow us down any more next summer,” Lacob said. “And it’ll be built in 24 months. We’ve hired the contractors already, and we’ll open hopefully in fall of ’17. We told the world fall of ’18. We’re trying to move it up to fall of ’17, and it’s a real possibility we could do that.”
What’s planned is quite the development: besides the arena, there are plans for two 16-story office buildings and a retail/restaurant complex
