After more than two years of contentious debate, months of negotiations, and one final protest that briefly disrupted proceedings, Philadelphia City Council on Thursday approved the 76ers’ proposal to build a new $1.3 billion arena in Center City that has been touted as an opportunity to revitalize the Market East corridor and panned as an existential threat to nearby Chinatown.
The 76ers said they needed city approval for the arena by the end of the year in order to open it in time for the 2031-32 NBA season, when the team’s lease at the Wells Fargo Center expires. Council’s final vote came a week after a key committee vote to advance the project that all but guaranteed it would be approved.
With a footprint from Market to Filbert Streets and 10th to 11th Streets, the arena will sit atop SEPTA’s Jefferson Station, and it will replace the western third of the Fashion District shopping mall.
» READ MORE: City Council members approved the 76ers Center City arena proposal in a preliminary vote
Before Thursday’s session began, anti-arena demonstrators locked arms on the Council floor and temporarily prevented Council President Kenyatta Johnson from gaveling in the start of the meeting. Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel and Sheriff Rochelle Bilal personally appeared in Council chambers as officers and deputies handcuffed the demonstrators one by one and walked them out of City Hall.
Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr., who opposes the arena, wept as protesters were detained in front of him. Arena opponents who had packed the galleries continued chanting, “Council sell-out.”
Eventually, Johnson established order and started the meeting. Lawmakers raced through their regular agenda before public comment, when numerous people spoke for and against the arena with arguments now familiar to lawmakers after eight public hearings and scores of hours of testimony.
The final vote on the bills green-lighting the project was 12-5, with Young joined by Councilmembers Nicolas O’Rourke, Kendra Brooks, Rue Landau, and Jamie Gauthier in voting against the proposal. The 11 pieces of legislation include measures that make zoning changes, authorize land transfers, and create a new special services district to provide public cleaning, public safety and other services near the arena.
» READ MORE: How Philly City Council members voted on the Sixers arena
One bill, creating a new Chinatown zoning overlay, was approved in a 14-3 vote, with Landau and Gauthier saying they were voting in favor of the measure despite opposing the arena because it would help protect Chinatown.
Supporters of the arena burst into applause after the first vote, chanting, “Build it! Build it!”
Parker: ‘All of Philadelphia will benefit’
It was a major win for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and for Johnson, both of whom took office in January and who worked together to get the controversial project over the legislative finish line.
”All of Philadelphia will benefit from this project,” Parker said at a City Hall news conference, adding that it was a “historic game-changing economic development project.”
“This $1.3 billion investment had to move forward,” Johnson added. “If we would have turned down this particular deal, we would have been fools.”
76ers co-owner and lead developer David Adelman called the vote “a critical milestone.”
”The leadership that Council and the Mayor have displayed embodies a greater vision for Philadelphia,” Adelman said in a statement. “They recognize how important this project is for the revitalization of our city.”
» READ MORE: Philly Council’s vote to green-light the 76ers’ arena plan revealed new power dynamics and reaffirmed old truths
Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose district includes the proposed arena site and who introduced the legislation authorizing it, said Thursday’s vote marked a “halfway point.” He said several committees need to be set up, a transit plan must be approved by PennDOT, and a demolition and business interruption strategy must be in place before 2026, when construction is slated to begin.
Key supporters of the project include the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, the Black Clergy of Philadelphia & Vicinity, and the African American Chamber of Commerce.
Regina Hairston, president and CEO of the African American chamber, said the project would open up opportunities for Black-owned businesses in and near the arena.
“You cannot grow without investment,” she said. “We all see how this corridor looks. It is empty. It is blighted.”
The fight is ‘not over,’ opponents say
It was opposed by every major neighborhood group that borders the project, including those in Chinatown and Washington Square West, and by the Design Advocacy Group, an organization of architects and urban planners who said an arena is unlikely to revive Market East. It also drew the ire of progressive activists, who criticized Council for doing the bidding of the 76ers’ billionaire owners, and of Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Wells Fargo Center and stands to lose out on the construction of a competing arena.
Opponents said they’re exploring legal action to try to block the project through the courts. Mohan Seshadri, executive director at the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, said details are forthcoming and vowed their fight is “not over.”
Seshadri blasted the city for detaining activists, saying “we just saw so many of our community advocates and organizers violently dragged out of Council for trying to make their voice heard.”
And he slammed Parker and Council, saying they agreed to an inadequate community benefits agreement, which is meant to blunt the potential impacts of the project on surrounding communities, but also includes funding for citywide programs championed by Parker and Council members.
“Instead of taking the time to fully understand the proposal,” Seshadri said, “the mayor and City Council kowtowed to the billionaires’ artificial timeline.”
» READ MORE: As Chinatown advocates see ‘betrayal’ in 76ers arena win, others see economic opportunity for Philadelphia
In the final days of negotiations leading up to last week’s committee vote, Council pushed the 76ers to increase the amount of money the team was willing to pay as part of a community benefits agreement. The 76ers had initially offered $50 million for the CBA. Johnson and Squilla at one point pushed for the team to spend as much as twice that. In the end, the team agreed to $60 million.
Gauthier, an urban planner by trade who voted against the arena, said she objected to both the amount of the CBA and how it was allocated.
“We should have used whatever money possible to protect against displacement in Chinatown,” she said. “And that just didn’t happen.”
However, Parker said approving the arena is a “victory for Philadelphia.”
“We are talking about a $1.3 billion economic development project, $700 million in prospective tax revenue, a $60 million [community benefits agreement],” she said. “If you wanted to ask, how am I feeling? I’m feeling very grateful. I’m feeling very humble.”
