Since the Sixers clearly People are calling the new venue an arena as they plan to move their home court to the popular Fashion District shopping mall on Market Street. But these days, sports franchises don’t want to waste their time just building big rooms where fans can watch their athletes perform. The owners now see themselves as large property developers.
Sixers Arena is the starting point for a large-scale urban renewal project.
of Sixers development group —Josh Harris, David Blitzer, David J. Adelman, HB Sports & Entertainment —I’m skimping on details about this massive undertaking. Adelman Last week, the outlines of their real estate ambitions finally began to emerge. His 18,500-seat arena at 11th Avenue and Market will serve as the anchor for a new entertainment district dotted with restaurants, bars, shops, and eventually the Mansion Tower.
Sixers plans to partner with the Fashion District owner to improve the mall and develop the south side of Market Street, Adelman said. Filbert Street transforms into a covered arcade lined with facilities.Philadelphia’s main bus station moved to make room for everything.
Clearly, the Sixers are playing a long game. Demolition of the western part of the mall won’t begin for another four years, and the arena won’t open until 2031, Adelman told me.
But what the Sixers have in mind is so big it could change an entire Center City quadrant beyond recognition. You can make a lot more money than
In the past, such large-scale redevelopment projects were usually initiated by government planners or non-profit agents. But thanks to the Sixers development group, 76 Debcorpwhich manages the site, says its partners will not seek public subsidies.
They’ve already begun contacting the city’s transportation authority and various Chinatown groups to get their buy-in, but they’ve come up with a detailed architectural plan showing how the building will occupy the four-acre main site. We haven’t provided it yet. They basically gave us trust the process.
A sports version of that approach would be Mixed results, so the city authorities should pay particular attention to defending the public interest in this property variant. It’s never too early to start pursuing strategies to protect Chinatown, which can be both a beneficiary and a victim of the new entertainment district.
For too long, the city, which has endured the shameful bunker of the Filbert Street bus station, should also seriously work to create an environment that: Multimodal Transportation Center Philadelphia deserves. City planners also need to make sure the Sixers don’t turn Filbert Street into another dark tunnel.
But with all its possible pitfalls, the project could also be a salvation for Market Street. Despite spending $420 million suburbanization of the former gallery shopping mall, Its owners, Macerich and PREIT, have failed to lure shoppers back to what was once Philadelphia’s main retail district. The pandemic and the end of retail haven’t made things easier.
But when the Sixers carved out a third of the building for the arena, mall operators were able to concentrate their existing stores, movie theater and bowling alley into a more compact space. It can finally revitalize the mall.
Additionally, the regional transportation hub below Market Street is the perfect location for modern sports facilities.Over the last 20 years, several other NBA franchises have migrated Built similar entertainment districts near downtown and transit. By leaving Philadelphia’s boring, auto-focused sports complex on his streets in the market, the Sixers are embracing a more sustainable urban future. It can only help SEPTA and PATCO and is good for the whole city.
If only I knew a little more about Sixers’ designs. Adelman provided some new images as we spoke.They give us a general idea of how the development went — now called 76 Place at Market East — may look. But these sketches Gensler Architects Not to be confused with actual renderings in Washington. They are just atmospheres.
Still, they tell us that the Sixers are smart enough not to replace one blank-walled Leviathan (Fashion District) with another. In their sketches, Market Street is lined with retail stores on both his ground floor and his second floor. The current entrance to the arena is between 10th and 11th.
“We really want to revitalize the Market Street front,” Adelman assured me. That’s a relief given the fortified site the team built in Camden. Practice facility — A project supported by an $82 million grant from New Jersey taxpayers, by the way.
The first glimpse of the Sixers’ ambitions dates back to 2020. Embark on a redevelopment of Penn’s LandingAlthough the proposal was rejected, it indicated that the franchise already saw the team as an asset that could be leveraged to build homes, hotels and stores. Student dormitory management Near the pen, it was not involved. Having him as a partner shows how much emphasis has been put on the residential part of the project.
At 76 Places, the Sixers are following a playbook pioneered by another group of real estate magnates. I’m Forest City Ratner, who oversaw Brooklyn’s massive Atlantic Yards development (recently renamed Pacific Park). The project is barclays center, host the net After numerous lawsuits and a bitter fight with the neighborhood, the arena is now surrounded by apartment towers.
Brooklyn Redevelopment Remains controversial, but it’s easy to see why the Sixers would want to borrow some of that idea, explained Marc S. Rosentraub, a professor of sports management and urban planner at the University of Michigan. As tenants of Wells Fargo, the Sixers are entitled to collect only proceeds from game ticket sales. Wells Fargo’s owner, Comcast Spectacore, keeps everything else, including money from naming rights, concert performances, profits from beer, and food concessions. By building and managing their own real estate, the Sixers were able to generate all the revenue themselves.
Rosentraub said, “If they do it right, they can do 275 nights in the arena.” He predicted that the Philadelphia Flyers would eventually move downtown as tenants for the Sixers. So did Villanova’s basketball team, which traditionally played five games a season at Wells Fargo.
The Sixers also want part of the housing development around the arena. The NBA doesn’t allow towers to be built over the arena for security reasons, but the Sixers have partnered with the Fashion District owners to build the rest of the mall with structural strength to support the towers. Expect to build an apartment on top. Macerich/PREIT has also accumulated a large holding on the south side of Market Street, another potential residential area.
Barclays offers other lessons in Philadelphia. Located on the edge of downtown Brooklyn, on the border of shopping and residential areas, Barclays was the first modern sports his arena with street-facing stores. The Sixers Market Street site is not only the same overall size as Barclays, but also occupies roughly the same geographical niche in the city, sandwiched between residential Chinatown and Philadelphia’s commercial hub. increase.
Barclays’ developers were ultimately forced to incorporate a significant number of affordable units into the apartment tower. Philadelphia should demand the same from the Sixers.
Barclays also stands out from other NBA arenas in its structure. After several corporate designs fell through, Forest City brought in a real design architect, his SHoP, to give the triangular building a distinctive urban look. As soon as you step off the subway, you’ll be enveloped in a cozy public square partially shaded by a unique canopy. Many Brooklyns still resent Arena, The plaza has evolved into a community asset It was the focus of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
Sixers wants to include outdoor spaces in the entertainment district as well. Here’s the problem: To accommodate the arena’s footprint, Filbert He would have to span the street, so Adelman suggested that the space could be transformed into a covered arcade lined with restaurants.
Given that the East Market area is already the site of tunnels and skyscrapers such as the three-block-long Pennsylvania Convention Center, the proposal should sound alarm bells. Too many streets are already dark.
“It could create another unfriendly tunnel,” agreed Anne Fadulon, the city’s director of planning and development. “If it feels dark, it’s not attractive.”
Adelman acknowledged the problem and said the Sixers would look for ways to bring light into the space.
One of the benefits of closing Filbert, however, is that it could help enable the Reading Terminal Market. dreams The idea is to create an open-air dining area under the market headhouse. One of his best ideas in the Fashion District masterplan was the proposal to line Filbert Street with restaurants and outdoor seating. It’s a shame that the Sixers version includes a roof.
The Sixers say they have no plans to ask the city for subsidies for their recreational district. , the fix will require public funding. Next is the bus stop.If the city goes ahead with its long-term plan bus station Next to the 30th Street Station, you’ll need help from PennDot, an agency not known for quick transit.
That’s why the city needs to install a full-court press now to ensure that Philadelphia gets a Sixers development that benefits the city as a whole.
