The legislation needed to authorize the $1.3 billion project is not expected to get a final vote until Council’s Dec. 19 meeting. But the committee vote on Thursday all but guaranteed passage.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson negotiated with the 76ers and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker's administration in the days leading up to the vote.City Council members voted Thursday morning to give preliminary approval to the 76ers’ controversial proposal to build an arena in Center City, likelythat pitted the NBA franchise against leaders in neighboring Chinatown and paving the way for a transformation of the Market East corridor when the arena opens in 2031.
Negotiations between the 76ers and Council members dragged on for weeks, and the final sticking point was the size of the project’s community benefits agreement, which is supposed to fund measures that could reduce the burden of the project on neighboring businesses and residents, especially in Chinatown.
The arena is scheduled to open in time for the 2031-32 NBA season, and demolition is scheduled to begin on the East Market Street site in 2026. Hoping to move into a home of their own when their lease at the Comcast Spectacor-owned Wells Fargo Center expires in 2031, the 76ers in 2020 first proposed building a new arena at Penn’s Landing, but the team lost out to a mixed-use project that was more in line with what city planners had envisioned for the site.
A series of public relations blunders put the project’s political prospects in doubt on several occasions, and the team has publicly flirted with accepting an offer to move to the Camden waterfront with the aid of $400 million in New Jersey taxpayer incentives.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Philadelphia City Council hearings begin on proposed 76ers arena in Center CityPhiladelphia City Council kicked off a series of hearings for the proposed 76ers arena in Center City on Tuesday.
Read more »
City Council to hear public input on 76ers Center City arena planCity Council will hear input from the public on the 76ers arena plan for Center City for the first time since the bills to create it were introduced.
Read more »
Philly Council grills 76ers execs over taxpayer support and community benefits for Center City arenaCity Council is slated to vote on the project in just three weeks, and Wednesday was the second of eight days of committee meetings lawmakers are scheduled to hold on the arena before then.
Read more »
Sixers arena: City Council reconvenes to vote on controversial Center City arena planPhiladelphia City Council will reconvene on Thursday to vote on a package of bills that, if approved, would help green light the controversial plans to build a new Sixers arena in Center City.
Read more »
Public set to weigh in as City Council hearings on 76ers arena plan resumeAfter a meeting went long on Tuesday, Philadelphia City Council is set for another day of hearings on the plan for a new arena for the 76ers.
Read more »
City Council holds another public hearing on proposed 76ers arenaAbout 170 people signed up to testify in front of the council's Committee on the Whole, which is comprised of all council members.
Read more »