Dive Brief:
- Golden State Warriors officials have announced that construction will begin on the Chase Center — the team’s new $1 billion, 18,500-seat San Francisco arena — on Jan. 17, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
- The new basketball venue, located in the city’s Mission Bay district, has been plagued with delays because of lawsuits brought by local activists who argued that the increased traffic, pollution and noise would interfere with the operations of nearby medical facilities and be harmful to patients.
- Soon after the team purchased the Mission Bay site in 2014, team officials projected the new facility would be ready in time for the 2017-2018 NBA season. However, completion is now scheduled in time for the opening of the 2019-2020 season due to the legal challenges.
Dive Insight:
The team engaged in a lengthy battle with the primary foe of the project, the Mission Bay Alliance, which is comprised primarily of those associated in some way with the neighboring University of California San Francisco women’s, children’s and cancer hospitals. Opponents also called the arena "ill-conceived" and said the office space that the Warriors would need would take away necessary room for the area’s growing biotech and health science industries. Along with the arena, the team plans to build a mixed-use complex with two office towers and a public plaza with retail and dining.
Opponents faced a major blow in November, when the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled in favor of the Warriors and denied the Mission Bay Alliance's legal challenge against the project, as it said the team had conducted a proper environmental study of the arena's impact. That decision followed another ruling in the team's favor earlier in 2016 when a San Francisco Superior Court judge decided there was no need for additional environmental reviews for the project.
The team has maintained that the arena would bring privately financed economic development to the area and provide at least $25 million for affordable housing. While waiting out the legal fight, the Warriors selected the joint venture of Clark Construction and Mortenson to build the venue. Both contractors have a solid history of sports-related construction, and they include the Minnesota Vikings' $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Twins' Target Field, Nationals Park and the Washington Redskins' FedExField among projects they've completed.
