Supporters of large projects for the city can breathe easier now that Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has reached an agreement to move ahead with the 76 Place arena proposal for Center City.
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The mayor threw her support behind the plan in a video released Wednesday afternoon on social media. Parker said she will send the agreement to the city council for legislative consideration and touted its economic benefits for the city.
“This is an historic agreement. It is the best financial deal ever entered into for a Philadelphia mayor for a sports arena,” Parker said in the video, promising to expand on the details of the deal in a formal presentation at a later date and to host a series of town halls.
“This agreement represents more than $1.3B of private investment in our city” and marks an “unprecedented revival of Market Street,” she said.
The new stadium would replace part of the Fashion District mall on 10th and Filbert streets. The Philadelphia 76ers have said demolition would need to begin in 2026.
76 Place has been supported by unions and some developers since the team's developer, 76 DevCo, unveiled plans for the arena two years ago.
But leaders of the Save Chinatown Coalition have protested the arena proposal, most recently at a town hall meeting where neighbors reiterated that the location of the 18,500-seat structure could hurt local businesses and displace people in the historic neighborhood.
City-commissioned studies suggest the arena could “indirectly displace” vulnerable populations like seniors in an area that is already gentrifying.
“To the people of Chinatown, please know that I hear you,” Parker said Wednesday. “We have the best Chinatown in the United States, and I am committed to working together to support it.”
Parker's negotiated deal with the 76ers reportedly includes a $50M community benefits agreement, channeling money and resources to impacted residents. But Chinatown opponents vowed to keep fighting in the wake of the announcement.
Over the last two weeks, developers like Building Industry Association President Mo Rushdy have expressed alarm at the prospect of an arena having to be built in Camden, New Jersey.
Leslie Smallwood-Lewis, co-founder of Mosaic Development Partners, said the holdup in the arena’s progress had been a less-than-positive omen for Philadelphia’s economic development.
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“Can we have [the arena] and what's proposed down in the stadium district? Absolutely, we should. We should be encouraging all of this to be happening,” Smallwood-Lewis told an audience of real estate professionals at the Bisnow State of the Market event held Wednesday, prior to Parker's announcement.
“We should be encouraging the Navy Yard to grow. We should be encouraging all these large projects to move forward, right, and be supportive of them. So for me, I'm optimistic, but I'm not as confident yet,” she said, referring to the city’s ability to support large-scale growth.
After Parker threw her weight behind the arena, the tenor changed. Business managers for trade groups like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98's Mark Lynch and Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council's Ryan Boyer lauded the mayor’s announcement, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“76 Place will invite additional outside investment that will finally revitalize this dormant yet vital section of Center City,” Lynch said in a statement.
In South Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center, ownership group Comcast Spectacor is still welcoming the 76ers to stay at their current stadium and work out a deal to build a new arena there.
“Regardless of the outcome of the City’s negotiations with [Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment], our door will always be open for the 76ers to join us in South Philadelphia if they ever conclude that is what is best for their team,” Comcast Spectacor CEO Daniel Hilferty said in a statement to Bisnow.
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