The Warriors’ proposed 18,000-seat, waterfront arena in S.F. would feature “more views, more glass and less parking,” according to Matier & Ross of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Revised designs for the arena at Piers 30-32 “appear to be aimed" at making the $1B-plus project "more waterfront-friendly -- and in the process help win approval from local, regional and state regulators.” Snohetta co-Founder Craig Dykers, whose firm will lead the arena design, said the proposed venue has a “very simple, very contemporary design that doesn’t have lot of visual chaos.” Matier & Ross write the architects "hope to minimize the arena’s impact on waterfront views." The architects, who also will come from AECOM and BAR, are “proposing to reduce the arena’s height by 10 feet, to 125 feet -- roughly the size of a 12-story building.” They also plan to “reduce on-site parking from 630 spaces to 500, move the arena back from the water’s edge to make room for a park that would encircle the structure, and wrap the arena with a spiraling, exterior pedestrian walkway that would allow for views of both the city skyline and the bay.” It would be “open to the public both during and outside game times.” The plan also “calls for retail buildings along the Embarcadero and acres of terraced plazas” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/5). Meanwhile, the S.F. BUSINESS TIMES reported S.F. Mayor Ed Lee and other city officials are "trying to introduce the legislative equivalent of a shot clock to the deliberations" on the Warriors' proposed arena. The legislation would "prevent arena foes from running a procedural version of the Four Corners by bogging the project down needlessly in a legal exercise" to define or redefine the city's "vaguely worded 'public trust doctrine.'" S.F.'s existing planning procedures "offer too many opportunities for small (and small-minded) but determined groups to introduce delay into considerations of projects large and small" (S.F. BUSINESS TIMES, 5/3 issue).
