160' sounds about right for that parcel--IIRC, the UCSF residence halls across Third Street are that tall.

It's going to be weird to have a big arena across the street from a research university and catty-corner from a major teaching hospital. Mission Bay certainly is a mash-up of urban uses!

The one thing I always felt that SF severely lacked was a sizeable arena. Also knowing that it can hosts many events other than sports, like concerts or various forms of live performances will help energize the area.

I'm definitely interested in what kind of vibe the area develops into after it gets built. I'm thinking some of South Beach will spill over into the area if the project is done right. Imagine what the area could be on a nice night while both teams are playing.

UCSF's housing tower is about 125 feet if I recall correctly. They originally wanted to go to 155, but the Potrero Hill folks thought it would block their water view too much so they got John Burton to threaten to hold the entire UC budget hostage unless UCSF lowered the height.

Never mind that the site directly across Third from the housing tower is also zoned for 160 feet.

Now, as for the zoning guidelines for the arena site itself, it's blocks 29-32 on the map below, part of zone HZ-5. The eastern shaded portion of the site (blocks 30 and 32) has a max height of 90 feet.

As a whole, HZ-5 has a height limit of 90 feet over 93 percent of the developable area, with the remaining 7 percent allowed to go up to 160 feet, intended to allow for signature skinny towers at major points. Now, I don't believe anything else in HZ-5 has exceeded 90 feet, so I'm not sure whether the arena can "claim" the entire allotment of higher limit for itself.

http://i60.tinypic.com/29glxl4.jpg

weird is right. in isolation, having the arena between a major street like Third and a bayfront park is great, but I just don't see how this use will fit with the already-existing surroundings.

one example: after UCSF made an effort to improve vehicle circulation around the medical center, I wonder if they will worry about the impact the arena will have on event days.

too bad the Warriors couldn't have worked out something with the Giants to put it up the street on their parcel, where the function aligns better and transit is more accessible.

Know what I think? (probably not)...
I think we better start building more bridges and widen freeways if we want all that traffic into SF over the next 50 years! :runaway:

Nope. Run away indeed--your ideas are bad, and you should feel bad.

There won't be any additional bridges for car traffic or widened "free"ways in San Francisco (they're not free) because the young generations don't obsess exclusively on private car travel like our dipshit hippie elders did.

Exclusive roadways for cars are neither free nor affordable nor sustainable. Car-obsessed hippies should take BART and Muni, instead of complaining about how every other elder drove to the Paul McCartney concert and somehow gridlock ensued.

Boohoo! I drove my private car to the show, like all my lazy generation did, and I got stuck in traffic!!! Whaaaaaa! It's everyone's fault but mine!

#cars-first asshole
#the worst generation
#if you complain about traffic you are part of the problem

Jeez, hate much? I know his position may be unpopular with many, but that was totally uncalled for - on many levels. You can state your disagreement in a civil manner without resorting to name calling and sweeping generalization of an entire generation. Watch out, some day some younger generation might have the same attitude toward you.

no way, totally appropriate response to knee-jerk know-nothingism. go fflint.

Cars are evil. Building more bridges to SF would mean more traffic on the streets, not less. Something the old generation always forgets is in 1950 the US had about 150 million people and today it has over 310 million people.....public transit is NECESSARY and having two vehicles per person is IMPOSSIBLE in this century simply due to population growth. By 2050 we will have over 400 million so the problems are only getting worse.

What the city needs is massive levels of public transit investment, and not just fast bus lanes but actual subways. I still want the central subway to continue to fishermans wharf and back down van ness...instead of wasting $400 million on building a bus lane on van ness. Then the line can swoop back east and create another tunnel under Oakland! Ok that will never happen but I can dream.

:offtopic:

Nice to see SF finally getting a NBA arena in the city.

Boohoo! Bus didn't show up. Its because cars are evil and car drivers are assholes. Its every one's fault but mine because I am the Mother Teresa of public transport. You sound like you are part of the worst generation and look in the mirror if you want to see a true asshole. Hope prices rise high enough to push you out of this city.

^ blah blah

The Chronicle's CW Nevius has a short blurb on the new arena with a few photos and a little info: most notably, the two proposed 160' office towers on site are 'of right'--no zoning variance required. This may get built faster than we initially thought.

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/31/71/53.../3/628x471.jpg
The site of the Golden State Warriors' future arena will blossom with office space and retail shops. Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

New Renderings have been released:
http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2...-revealed.html

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...gn-NW-View.gif

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...gn-NE-View.gif

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...gn-SE-View.gif

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...ark-Sketch.gif

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...ign-Sketch.gif

The Toilet Bowl
 

I knew the renderings looked a little funny to me.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11...et-bowl-design

renderings redesigned:

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...te-Plan-21.gif

source: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2...nark-away.html

Well this is certainly welcomed news. I don't follow basketball but I'm sure there would have been many well timed puns during arena flyovers on gamedays.

according to recent reports, the warriors plan to open the SF arena in time for the 2017-2018 season, 1 year earlier than planned.

Is that icon in your namespace official? Are they going to be SF Warriors? If this is true they have about 32 months to build this thing.

thats the old-school logo from the 60s back when the warriors played in SF.

ideally, the warriors want to break ground next summer and the construction will take 24 months. (contractors are already hired)

im pretty confident the owners will rename the franchise to "San Francisco Warriors." everytime the owner Joe Lacob gets asked this question, he always starts off smiling and says that it will be up to the fans once the relocation is completed.

new renderings released

http://i.imgur.com/Wef1iqW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7nubEwZ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/g2DgvNU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/b4Suvdj.jpg

Wow, they really shoe horned that thing in there, didn't they? The street closest to the water between the arena and the park- they should just close it down. That is going to be a jaywalker nightmare, unless they really expect thousands of people to wait patiently for the walk signal in a crosswalk before and after events and games. There is nothing open about this at all, it looks so forced. The design is pretty meh, too.

^^Always so negative... I think it looks great, and a nice improvement over the previous renders. They seem to be making good use of the available land. Maybe there will be a problem with jaywalkers?? I'm sure there's problems with jaywalkers outside of every stadium/arena going across the street. :tup:

No, I'm just miffed that what was a glorious proposal has turned into an afterthought. I really liked the original proposal on the Pier. This fits right into the medical office nouveau of Mission Bay.
Upside is that a new arena is a great thing for the city. They had better up the capacity of the T- Line, imagine home Giants and Warriors games on the same day!

^^as much as i loved the pier design, it was never going to be built, and it if it ever did, it wouldnt break ground until another 10 years from now. there was way too much controversial hurdles and opposition surrounding that project.

i like this new mission bay project, although i think it needs to look more iconic. kinda reminds me of an upgraded version of staples center.

what i would like to see in the next rendering is the view of the arena from the western portion of this parcel (where the 2 biotech buildings are situated).

im also really curious to see what the outer skin will be made out of. (other than the glass portion)

Very Nice. The new design looks great.

it is hard to tell from the renderings due to the particular angles they have shown, but it also appears to have lost the undulation of the roofline that the pier version had (but that seems to have gone along with the asymmetrical shape that is clearly gone from this site's version), a feature that I found to be the most interesting of the original design.

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...ign-Aerial.jpg
http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...ird-Street.jpg

I kind of agree, though the Pier design wasn't going to happen...

http://www.socketsite.com/wp-content...ing-Inside.jpg

http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2...side-site.html

So depressing to lose that gorgeous Bay Bridge interior view from the last proposal...

You only have to worry about the overlap in April and May(when/if team makes the playoffs)

I really like this new stadium. I think the design looks great!

John King is positive about the location and design so far. he thinks it will enliven the area in a way the neighborhood needs. hope he's right. it still feels like an awkward location to me.

If John King likes something, then its pretty much the uncoolest thing since the snuggie.

I remember his commentary a few years ago praising the architectural wonders of.. Target stores.

Like most others on the forum I think everyone would have preferred the location next to the Bay Bridge, but there really are not many places in SF that an arena wouldn't feel awkward. I think next to the dinosaur of a Stadium & in te middle of a huge parking lot was awkward enough. I think over time it will feel like the location debate will just end up being a non-issue. <fingers crossed>

It would seem to me that if the sky club were moved to the other endzone you could still have a view of the bay and possibly the bridge, granted it would be farther away.

Thanks for providing the renderings. The project looks great, but I'm not sure if I am reading this correctly. Is that extra wide white tube arch structure over and near the theater entrance something easy to climb?

I don't believe you can climb that far. The area you can climb to can be seen in the rendering above the "Food Hall"

One of my concerns, which honestly is a concern for Mission Bay as a whole, is how wide and large the retail frontages and floorplates continue to be. The really successful commercial corridors in our area tend to have very narrow and deep storefronts, so that one block can have potentially dozens of retail options, as well as smaller and creative businesses being able to occupy them. In virtually all Mission Bay (and Rincon Hill for that matter) developments, the retail components only have, like, 4-8 spaces per block (maybe 1 or 2 per development). That makes it hard for interesting, smaller businesses, and very, very, very easy for Walgreens/CVS, banks, etc. If we are trying to provide a vibrant commercial area for residents and visitors alike, I am just worried we are creating floorplates that will inhibit such growth.

No view of the bay from the court. Interesting decision.

While the intended built reality may indeed be unclimbable, the rendering of the arch appears to me to be ladder like especially at the column post.

There may be other overriding constraints that prevent narrow and deep storefronts at these locations.

New renderings

http://sf.curbed.com/uploads/warrior...bay-market.jpg
http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...-closeup-3.jpg

More here http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2015/0...reet_level.php

New renderings from bizjournals of the office towers that will be part of the new Warriors arena development.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...on-bay-sf.html

^

http://i.imgur.com/RP8MgZO.png
http://i.imgur.com/74LwgM6.png
http://i.imgur.com/UNC7r8P.png

honestly, i love so much of the architecture of our current era of design, but when i see stuff like this it just looks dystopian.

Man alive I really like this design. Yes the pier rendering was super sweet but I really didnt think that would ever happen. Will the type of fans change? Like the Oracle is in Oakland...this will be in SF.