Warriors flush plans for toilet-shaped arena

The Golden State Warriors Wednesday released new plans for a gleaming 18,064-seat arena in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood set to open in 2018.

The new arena will be built on 11 acres of property bounded by Third, 16th and South streets and Terry A. Francois Boulevard, near the UCSF/Mission Bay San Francisco Municipal Railway stop, team officials said.

The arena will include 100,000 square feet of retail space, most of which will be restaurants, and 580,000 square feet of office and lab space. There will also be 3.2 acres of plazas and public space, including a 35,000-square-foot plaza on Third Street and a 24,000-square-foot plaza on the southeast side, team officials said.

A view deck will overlook San Francisco Bay. To accommodate travelers, there will be 950 new parking spaces in underground garages and 300 spaces of permanent bike valet parking. A new 5.5-acre waterfront park, similar to Marina Green, will also be constructed across Terry Francois Boulevard.

The arena’s projected opening in 2018 will be the culmination of eight years of work following the team’s sale to Joe Lacob and Peter Guber in 2010. The new ownership announced their intention to move the team back to San Francisco in 2012 and announced the Mission Bay site earlier this year.

The Warriors previously played in the city for nine years until 1971, when the team moved to Oakland. The Mission Bay area has seen dramatic changes since the Giants’ AT&T Park opened in 2000.

Business activity in the area is only set to further expand with the addition of the Warriors’ new facility and the expected completion of the Central Subway Muni line to Chinatown in 2018.

Lacob said in a statement:

“We believe this is a perfect fit for Mission Bay, for San Francisco, and for the entire region. … Our goal is to not only build a world-class arena for our team and our fans, but also create a vibrant place that residents and visitors will want to enjoy, whether on game days or any other day.”