Dive Brief:
- The NBA's Golden State Warriors franchise could be adding hotel and condominium components to its $1.5 billion Chase Center arena project in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
- The 142-room hotel, built to a maximum of 160 feet, would be branded as a 1 Hotel and operated by an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group. The team would include as many as 25 condos on the hotel's upper floors along with retail and restaurant space elsewhere in the building.
- The hotel and condo project would replace a planned 24,000-square-foot retail building that has already won approval from local authorities, but the new proposal would require the green light from the city's Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure and other agencies. If the project wins the necessary approvals, the Warriors expect to start construction in 2021 and open in 2023.
Dive Insight:
When discussing the new project with the Chronicle, Warriors President Rick Welts said the hotel, condos and other mixed-use pieces of the Chase Center arena development, which is not a recipient of public subsidies, made the entire project financially viable. In addition to the 18,000-seat arena and proposed hotel and condos, the Warriors’ development also will include 580,000 square feet of office space, which Uber has reportedly snapped up, and an additional 100,000 square feet of restaurants and retail.
When proposing a new arena, professional sports franchises often sell communities on the economic and social benefits that new venues and accompanying mixed-use projects will bring. That's because retail, restaurants, hotels and conference centers help pay the bill for an arena, stadium or ballpark that sits empty offseason, particularly if that project, like the Chase Center, is going it alone with private financing.
Other California teams — such as the Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Rams — are financing new venues on their own as well and each has included a significant mixed-use component.
The A’s are planning to build a new 34,000-seat stadium on a Port of Oakland terminal site, and the new ballpark will be surrounded by an elevated park that leads down to the waterfront. Next to the new venue, the team is also investing in a waterfront district that will offer visitors year-round residential, retail and entertainment options. The team and its designer, the Bjarke Ingels Group, have even made plans for a gondola system that will connect the new stadium to the Oakland Convention Center.
In southern California, the Rams are privately financing the new $5 billion Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park, in Inglewood. The 100,000-person capacity stadium, which will host home games for both the Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers, will be the centerpiece of a large, mixed-use development that will include a performing arts center, office space, retail, hotel rooms, residences, 25 acres of park and recreational space, as well as restaurants and conference facilities.
