PANSTADIA & ARENA MANAGEMENT WINTER 2013/14
NORTH AMERICA SUPPLEMENT
Arena on the Pier W
hilst San Francisco is widely regarded as one of America’s great
cities, it is unique for its size and stature in that it doesn’t have a world-class, multi-purpose indoor arena of its own.
The Bay Area’s NBA basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, currently plays in the neighbouring city of Oakland, but when Joe Lacob and Peter Guber took control of the Warriors on 12 November 2010, they made it a priority to deliver a new arena for the team in down-town San Francisco.
With real-estate in the city hard to come by, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee introduced the owners to Piers 30-32, a prime location adjacent to the bay. The Piers had already seen several high-profi le projects fall by the wayside, most recently when Oracle owner Larry Ellison tried to re-develop the site as part his plans for the America’s Cup.
But despite the piers needing over $100 million of major reconstructive work before any redevelopment could even commence, Lacob and Gruber knew they had found the right place to build an arena.
“When the owners of the Warriors physically stood there, and envisaged what could be built there, they knew this was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity,” explains Warriors Arena spokesman, PJ Johnston. “Not just for the Warriors, but for the city of San Francisco and the Bay Area as a whole.”
“People don’t get out onto the pier very often anymore because it is so dilapidated and unsafe,” continues Johnston. “But when you go out there, and you stand out on the huge pier and look back at the city, it is one of the
The designs of a new arena in San Francisco for the Golden State Warriors NBA team have evolved to meet the requirements of a complex range of stakeholders.
most beautiful and spectacular locations there is.”
The fi rst plans for the Warriors’ new arena were announced in May 2012, and under the terms of the agreement the City would provide the land, with the Warriors not only having to pay for the repair of the piers, but also fi nance the entire arena project.
“Virtually every other city that has an NBA team and has built a new facility in this country has had public money,” outlines Johnston. “But we knew that wasn’t going to happen here in San Francisco. The owners knew that having all of the funding was a minimum requirement, and so they said from the beginning that they will do this privately.”
Fast forward 18 months, and the recent third anniversary of what is now known as the ‘Lacob-Guber era’ for the Warriors
All images credit: steelblue 28
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