Warriors Push Back Target Date For SF Waterfront Arena
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - There's a new delay for plans to construct the next Golden State Warriors arena on the San Francisco waterfront.
Team officials are saying that the facility at piers 30 and 32 will not open as planned in 2017. Cost estimates have now doubled for renovating existing piers so that they can support the NBA arena.
At the same time, proponents of a ballot measure that could impact the arena plan by imposing tighter restrictions on waterfront development submitted signatures to the city's Department of Elections on Monday to put the measure on the June ballot.
The Warriors in 2012 announced plans to move from their current home at Oakland's Oracle Arena to an 18,000-seat arena at Piers 30-32 between the Bay Bridge and AT&T Park in San Francisco.
The plan was to open the arena by 2017, but based on input from community members, the design for the arena was overhauled twice, which pushed back the project's schedule to allow for state-mandated environmental review, arena spokesman Nathan Ballard said Monday.
"We're doing exactly what we said we would do...fully embrace all of the public input, all the regulatory input... so we're going to open in 2018," said Warriors President Rick Welts.
Arena opponents are expected to turn over signatures to officials for a measure that would require the Warriors, and any other developer, to win voter approval before exceeding the current height limits along the waterfront.
Jim Stearns, a spokesman for the ballot campaign, said organizers have gathered more than 20,000 signatures—more than double the number required by the city to put the proposal on the ballot.
"There's been a disconnect between City Hall and the voters about waterfront height limits," Stearns said. "We're confident the voters want to have a say in what is developed there."
He said the measure "is not aimed at any one proposal" such as the arena, and noted that other plans for the waterfront include buildings that far exceed the arena's proposed height.
Ballard said the arena project organizers don't have a position yet on the ballot measure.
"We're waiting to see if it qualifies, and if so, what implications it might have for our project," he said.
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