Alternate Warriors’ site good for a laugh
Who knew the heretofore stuffy Mission Bay Alliance had such a sense of humor? The opponents of the Warriors’ proposed new arena in Mission Bay claim they have found a terrific alternative site near Pier 80 that the team should consider.
Having driven down there, I have one reaction — surely this is a joke. Too harsh? OK, put it this way: This would work if we could solve a few pesky problems.
Like the fact that the spot is already occupied. There are already thriving businesses at the site — I counted 14. Or that half the land is owned by either the city or the Port of San Francisco, and that those plots are in full use by the Municipal Transportation Agency, which has no intention of giving them up.
The site, nearly 2 miles south of AT&T Park, is set in the bleak, but bustling, warehouse district next to Cesar Chavez Street. A big new basketball arena would fit in about as well as a spaceship. Trucks and heavy equipment make navigating the narrow streets a traffic challenge, and that’s after you negotiate the increasingly congested Third Street corridor to get there.
Ever optimistic, Mission Bay Alliance spokesman Sam Singer is doing all he can to turn those negatives into a
positive.
For example, take the fact that, unlike the Mission Bay location, which is a vacant lot, this site is populated with businesses, warehouses and city or port property.
That, Singer says, is a good thing.
“More than 50 percent of the land is owned by the city,” he said. “And the city has said that it desires the Warriors.”
So, once San Francisco realizes what a gem this industrial grid really is, it will just hand over the land and turn it into an arena-in-waiting? Uh, no. The largest city plot is in use by Muni. And we’re not talking about storing a couple of buses. This is a fenced, concrete-and-asphalt staging center just completed last year for fueling buses and launching bus routes.
“That large space is something we’ve been working on for probably 15 years,” said MTA Director Ed Reiskin. “It’s a long-planned project, and just two weeks ago we broke ground on phase two.”
That will include the construction of a large, permanent maintenance building on the south end of the lot. So to the question of whether the city is going to hand over that land for an arena, let’s mark that down as “doubtful.”
With that off the table, we turn to the rest of the site, beginning with two large warehouse buildings, which would not only have to be taken down, the businesses in them would have to relocate. And that’s only if the owners of the structures were willing to sell.
More good news, Singer says.
“We hired real estate brokers to contact the owners of the buildings,” he said. “And all of them expressed interest.”
But it turns out there are a few qualifiers to the term “expressed interest.”
“The brokers didn’t mention the Mission Bay Alliance” or an arena, Singer said. “They just said, ‘I’m representing a company that is putting this deal together.’ ”
But an 18,500-seat basketball arena is not what the landowners have in mind, according to Jim Luo, who owns a quarter of one of the warehouses where his marble and tile outlet is located.
He says the owners are thinking about a residential housing plan that would include some 1,000 housing units.
So unless the new arena’s luxury boxes are going to be condominiums, it would be safe to say the alliance and the current owners are not on the same page.
That leaves a plot in the center of the site. It is owned by the Port of San Francisco, and while Reiskin says “it’s the port’s call,” MTA has been a long-term tenant there, using it for maintenance and repairs.
Even with that land, Reiskin said, “We don’t have enough space to meet demand.”
So to review: This is a perfect site if all the businesses agree to move, the landowners agree to sell, MTA decides to abandon a 15-year project and Warriors’ fans embrace the idea of traveling halfway to Candlestick Point to see a game.
It’s not going to happen. And the alliance knows that. This is a cynical attempt to slow down the process and stall the groundbreaking at Mission Bay.
On the other hand, if we’re just tossing out wacky ideas, why should they have all the fun?
Chronicle architectural critic John King suggests the arena could go into the Buffalo Paddock in Golden Gate Park. Plenty of room, easy access via the Wiggle for cyclists, and actual bison viewing before the game.
Good idea, but this is San Francisco, so there’s always the risk of raising the ire of bison advocacy groups.
A better suggestion came from a reader who is pitching the idea of a floating arena. Not only would it not displace anyone, it could be towed back and forth across the bay from S.F. to the East Bay so Oakland could still host half of the home games. It’s a win-win, as long as the waves don’t kick up during a game.
Crazy idea? No more so than the one the alliance has already proposed.