Candlestick Park likely will "go out with a blast next year to make way for a shopping center,” according to Matier & Ross of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Plans are to “blow up the 69,000-seat stadium with a 30-second implosion, possibly within weeks of the 49ers' final touchdown next season.” The S.F. Recreation & Park Department, which owns Candlestick, had “feared it would be stuck spending millions to mothball the 53-year-old structure until Lennar Corp. was ready to build something on the land.” Lennar now “figures there's no point in waiting.” Plans for a “side-by-side stadium and mall at Candlestick evaporated” after the 49ers announced in ‘06 that they were building a stadium in Santa Clara. Lennar Bay Area Urban Division President Kofi Bonner said that rubble from Candlestick's implosion “will be used to grade the site for an 800,000-square-foot shopping district.” Additionally, there are plans for a 3,000- to 4,000-seat arena that "could accommodate small concerts," house the ECHL S.F. Bulls, and "maybe even host pro women's basketball” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/4).
