Current:Home > FinancePhiladelphia mayor strikes a deal with the 76ers to build a new arena downtown-InfoLens
Philadelphia mayor strikes a deal with the 76ers to build a new arena downtown
View Date:2025-01-13 02:56:59
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers have a new teammate in their bid to build a new $1.3 billion arena downtown.
Mayor Cherelle Parker announced Wednesday that she has forged a deal with team owners to keep the NBA franchise in town and will send it to city council. The decision comes despite objections from nearby Chinatown residents and just weeks after New Jersey’s governor offered $400 million in tax breaks to build the site across the river in Camden.
“This is an historic agreement,” Parker said in a video posted on the social platform X. “I wholeheartedly believe this is the right deal for the people of Philadelphia. To the people of Chinatown, please know that I hear you. We have the best Chinatown in the United States, and I am committed to working together to support it.”
Team owners say their planned 76 Place would improve a struggling retail corridor near City Hall and capitalize on the city’s public transit. They have vowed not to renew the lease on their current home, a circa 1996 arena in the city’s South Philadelphia sports complex, when their lease runs out in 2031.
The team now rents the arena from Comcast Spectacor, which also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, who also play there. Instead, the Sixers’ owners want their own, more modern facility, one they could also rent out for concerts and other events.
Josh Harris, a managing partner of the ownership group, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, has said the Sixers will build a privately funded facility that “strengthens ties within the local community through investments that prioritize equity, inclusivity and accessibility.”
On Wednesday, a spokesperson said the owners were grateful for Parker’s support of their proposal “and look forward to advancing to the next steps with city council.”
Chinatown activists who have felt the squeeze of development repeatedly since at least the 1990s had urged the mayor to reject the plan. They are only now getting some relief from a sunken expressway that cleaved their community in two in 1991, in the form of a $159 million grant to build a park over the six-lane highway and reconnect the area.
Parker, who inherited the 76ers issue when she took office in January, had promised to consider their input. Activists complained Wednesday that she ignored it. Some of them took to City Hall with homemade lanterns to “shine a light” on the potential consequences. They say the project will increase vehicle traffic in their pedestrian-friendly neighborhood and force vulnerable residents — older people, low-income families and new immigrants — out.
Debbie Wei, of the Save Chinatown Coalition, said the mayor alone should not decide “whether our community should live or die.”
“This fight is far from over,” she said in a statement. “We are going to fight this, and we are going to the mat. It’s on.”
Comcast Spectacor Chairman and CEO Daniel J. Hilferty said they will keep the door open for the 76ers as the plan unfolds while working with the Phillies to expand entertainment venues and jobs at the South Philadelphia complex.
“Either way, we always want what is best for Philadelphia,” Hilferty said in a statement.
___
AP sportswriter Dan Gelston contributed to this report from Philadelphia.
veryGood! (11)
Related
- 'We suffered great damage': Fierce California wildfire burns homes, businesses
- Tunnel flooding under the River Thames strands hundreds of travelers in Paris and London
- Who is Liberty? What to know about the Flames ahead of Fiesta Bowl matchup vs. Oregon
- A Colorado mother suspected of killing 2 of her children makes court appearance in London
- Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts
- Ian Ziering Breaks Silence After Unsettling Confrontation With Bikers in Los Angeles
- Stock market today: Asian markets are mixed on the first trading day of 2024
- How to get the most out of your library
- UFC 309: Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight card, odds, how to watch, date
- It keeps people with schizophrenia in school and on the job. Why won't insurance pay?
Ranking
- Alexandra Daddario Shares Candid Photo of Her Postpartum Body 6 Days After Giving Birth
- Gunmen kill 6 barbers in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban near the Afghan border
- Green Day changes lyrics to shade Donald Trump during TV performance: Watch
- Driver fleeing police strikes 8 people near Times Square on New Year's Day, police say
- Spirit Airlines cancels release of Q3 financial results as debt restructuring talks heat up
- Powerful earthquakes leave at least four dead, destroy buildings along Japan’s western coast
- The Endangered Species Act at 50: The most dazzling and impactful environmental feat of all time
- An Israeli who fought Hamas for 2 months indicted for impersonating a soldier and stealing weapons
Recommendation
-
Deommodore Lenoir contract details: 49ers ink DB to $92 million extension
-
Easter, MLK Day, Thanksgiving and other key dates to know for 2024 calendar
-
Wander Franco arrested in Dominican Republic after questioning, report says
-
Golden Knights dress as Elvis, Kraken go fishing for Winter Classic outfits
-
Wildfire map: Thousands of acres burn near New Jersey-New York border; 1 firefighter dead
-
'Serotonin boost': Indiana man gives overlooked dogs a 2nd chance with dangling videos
-
What restaurants are open New Year's Day 2024? Details on McDonald's, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A
-
It keeps people with schizophrenia in school and on the job. Why won't insurance pay?