Contact Us
News

Sixers Ditch Center City Arena, Plan To Build New South Philly Stadium

After years of negotiations, dozens of tense public hearings and hard-won Philadelphia City Council approval, the Philadelphia 76ers have reversed plans to build a new arena in Center City.

The team will now stay in the Wells Fargo Center at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex instead of building a new $1.3B venue on East Market Street in Center City. The Sixers and Comcast Spectacor plan to erect a new arena that will also house the Philadelphia Flyers, which is owned by the media conglomerate.

Placeholder
The Philadelphia 76ers have ditched their Center City arena plans to stay in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.

Ryan Boyer, head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, told The Philadelphia Inquirer about the “pivot” in an article published Sunday afternoon.

“The commissioner of the NBA was involved in it, and the commitment to Market Street redevelopment is still there,” he told the outlet. “We think that overall it will be good for the city.”

According to media reports, Mayor Cherelle Parker, a major proponent of the Center City arena plan, will hold a press conference about the development at 11 a.m. Monday. With Parker's approval, the city council passed a package of bills last month clearing the way for the so-called 76 Place project that would have replaced part of the Fashion District mall on 10th and Filbert streets.

Spokespeople for the Sixers, Comcast Spectacor and the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to Bisnow’s requests for comment.

The news comes just days after city officials announced that the Macy’s location in the Wanamaker Building across from Philadelphia City Hall will be shuttered in the coming weeks. City officials cited the Center City arena as a key reason for residents to remain optimistic about the Market East corridor.

“We've framed the arena as that catalyst, as that attractive anchor that’s really needed to jump-start development,” Philadelphia Planning and Development Director Jessie Lawrence said during a press conference Friday.

It’s not clear what will happen with the other Market Street properties the Sixers have acquired for the now-defunct project.

Rev. Gregory Holsten, an anti-arena activist with the Black Philly for Chinatown coalition, was “elated” to hear the arena will not be built.

“It was a bad deal for all of Philadelphia, but particularly Chinatown,” he told Bisnow. “We feel a degree of satisfaction that’s not going to happen now.”

Holsten hopes that a biomedical center will be built on the site instead. Comcast Spectacor floated that plan for East Market Street last year as part of lobbying efforts to oppose to the Sixers’ arena proposal, which generated intense public backlash over gentrification in Chinatown, increased traffic and other concerns.

Council Member Mark Squilla, who represents Chinatown and the neighborhood that would have housed the Center City arena, told the Inquirer the Sixers will keep their previous commitments about helping to revitalize Market East.

“I'm OK being used in that process,” he said. “This might end up actually being the best-case scenario. We can reimagine Market Street without an arena, have people committed to … investing in it and still have a new arena in South Philly.”

But Council Members Kendra Brooks and Nicholas O’Rourke, who both voted against the arena, released a joint statement about the news, lambasting the Sixers and a “deal that was bad from the beginning.”

“Who knows how much time we’ll have to waste now undoing what Council just did?” the pair said. 

“Anybody following this issue closely could clearly see this was a power struggle between billionaires and corporations,” they said. “Their plans can change on a whim, and these latest developments are a clear example of why the Mayor and Council should never waste precious time and resources prioritizing billionaire projects over the work Philadelphians elect us to do.”