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Warriors Reportedly Buying Mission Bay Site For New Arena

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - The Warriors have reportedly abandoned their plans for a new arena along San Francisco's Embarcadero, opting instead to build in the burgeoning Mission Bay neighborhood.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the team agreed over the weekend to buy a piece of land that was once pegged as the future headquarters of Salesforce. Details of the 12 acre purchase were not released, but it is believed that the location offers fewer hurdles and less vocal opposition than the former project site on piers 30 and 32. In 2012, the team announced plans to move from their current home at Oakland's Oracle Arena to the 18,000-seat facility to be built just south of the Bay Bridge.

The new location sits directly south of AT&T Park, not far from the parking lot for the San Francisco Giants stadium that was once floated as a potential build site for the Warriors. Last month, that location was deemed slightly less desirable than the Embarcadero project by voters in a KPIX 5/Survey USA Poll. That poll found that an overwhelming number of San Franciscans want any arena plan put to a citywide vote.

The plan was to open an arena by 2017, but based on input from community members, the design for the original arena was overhauled twice and was facing a potential ballot challenge over the project's planned height. Now it appears to be scrapped entirely.

When completed, Muni trains should connect the new location with downtown and BART via the newly constructed Central Subway transit line.

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