49ers' Stadium Plans Could Cost $800M

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SAN FRANCISCO-The San Francisco 49ers this week revealed additional details regarding its planned new open-air stadium, which will replace Monster Park, its 46-year-old current venue. Slated for Candlestick Point in the city’s Bayview-Hunters Point community, next to Monster Park, the team hopes to have the 68,000-sf facility ready for the 2012 NFL season.

The team and the designer, HNTB Architecture Inc. revealed Tuesday that the stadium will feature a large lower bowl with seating for two-thirds of fans and an upper deck that is lower and closer to the action on the field, made possible by a vertical suite complex stacked entirely on the west side of the stadium. Other features will include year-round public plazas, views of Downtown and the Bay and wide concourses with views of the action on the field from every level.

Finally, the stadium, which also will host Major League Soccer, will be designed such that it can be temporarily expanded for premier events such as the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup events and the Olympics, should the city be successful in its bid for the 2016 Summer Games.

The cost of the new stadium is expected to come in between $600 million and $800 million. The team’s co-owner John York confirmed that his goal is to finance the venue without relying on the $100 million in revenue bonds approved by San Francisco voters in 1997 under Proposition D.

York says that a privately financed stadium will require development of a mixed-use project at Candlestick Point in the empty lots adjacent to Monster Park, which was authorized by voters in San Francisco in 1997 under Proposition F. The team’s development partner, Lennar Corp., is currently conducting a feasibility study and should present an initial land use plan to the City of San Francisco and the public later this summer.