Dive Brief:
- Ride-sharing giant Uber has purchased an interest in two office buildings that will be part of the Golden State Warriors' mixed-use complex, anchored by a new $1 billion Chase Center arena in the Mission Valley district of San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
- Real estate developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which has assisted Uber in previous property deals, also purchased a minority stake in the project and will manage the buildings. The project is scheduled to open by 2019.
- The 11-acre site will be home to the two office buildings, the 18,000-seat Chase Center arena, 100,000 square feet of retail space and a public plaza.
Dive Insight:
The arena complex has survived multiple legal challenges, although the team did have to push back its scheduled opening from the 2017-2018 NBA season to the 2019-2020 season in order to fight lawsuits trying to stop construction. Its primary adversary, the Mission Bay Alliance, tried to halt the project by arguing that its proximity to women’s, children’s and cancer hospitals would endanger the health of patients by impeding access to emergency room services during high-attendance events.
The Alliance, made up mostly of University of California, San Francisco staff and supporters, argued that the property should be used for biotech and medical space development instead. The courts didn't see it that way, however, and rejected the Alliance's arguments that the Warriors' environmental review was not sufficient. A previous ruling had already denied an Alliance request for a new environmental review, and the last stop for the Alliance was the California Supreme Court, which also spurned its request to stop construction.
