Critical Support for New NBA Arena Proposal in San Francisco

"After two years of false starts, political drama and a round of toilet jokes, the vision of a San Francisco home for the Golden State Warriors is starting to look real," writes San Francisco Chronicle Architecture Critic John King, "and it’s a promising vision at that."

King argues that the development will have a "ripple effect" on the neighborhood of Mission Bay that surrounds the proposed site for the arena. "Instead of an isolated object best viewed from a blimp, as was the case with the arena concepts for Piers 30-32 just south of the Bay Bridge, we’d have the concentrated drama of a major destination within an urban setting. It will share the block with two stubby towers and be flanked by commercial buildings, a stone’s throw from a hospital and a college campus. What’s been missing is what the arena can become: a catalyst to finally put the redevelopment district on the everyday map of San Francisco."

King also shares more of the details of the conceptual plan, as proposed by lead architect David Manica. As for a timeline, "Warriors management is to receive approvals by next fall, with construction to be complete in time for the 2018-19 basketball season." So far the proposal faces none of the political opposition that troubled the earlier concept for an arena on Piers 30-32.