SUMMARY: The proposal to build a sports arena on Market Street East needs a full public evaluation to determine whether it will serve Philadelphia. I have prepared this paper to urge that public process because I believe there is substantial evidence that building the arena on Market Street fails Philadelphia in several respects:

  1. It fails to maximize employment opportunities for long term economic growth.
  2. It fails to maximize construction employment.
  3. It harms Chinatown which has been under pressure from developers for decades.
  4. It harms Old City, Washington Square West, and other surrounding communities.
  5. It creates a major healthcare problem for the major health complex consisting of Thomas Jefferson University, Pennsylvania Hospital, Wills Eye Hospital, Penn Medicine and at least a dozen major healthcare buildings for outpatient and specialized services.
  6. It fails to consider the alternative use of the Market Street site as a bio-medical technology center.
  7. It risks the more than $2.5 billion planned investment in the South Philadelphia sports and entertainment district.
  8. It will cause long term damage to connecting the Independence Hall/Constitution Center area with City Hall and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Art Museum.
  9. It will saddle the City with two major arenas neither of which will be able to attract enough events to be profitable.
  10. It will split the part time employment at arenas between two separate venues miles apart.
  11. It will be costly to the City which will provide millions of dollars in subsidies to the developers who said they would not need or accept public funds as well as imposing significant new costs for the City which would not be necessary if the arenas were concentrated in South Philadelphia.

The remainder of this paper will explain each of these problems with the hope of assuring an open and accountable process of assessing the best use of this critical space.

OVERVIEW: The decisions about what to build on Market Street East is a fundamental decision for the future of our city. Market Street from the very beginning of Philadelphia has been a central Street, especially between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. Market Street East connects the Independence Hall/Constitution Center district with City Hall, Market Street West, and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway out to the art museums. Market Street East is the southern boundary of Chinatown, a unique cultural treasure in Philadelphia. Market Street East is also the northern boundary of an extraordinarily rich and important medical complex involving Thomas Jefferson University, Wills Eye Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, and at least a dozen healthcare office buildings including medical office towers of Penn Medicine, Wills Eye and Jefferson. Market Street East has been the historic home of an important retail district which has struggled with changes in retail shopping, but which still can be an important addition to Philadelphia’s downtown retail development if properly sized and made attractive to foot traffic.

Proposals for major changes to Market Street East require a thorough, public process of discussion sifting through facts, analyses, and competing proposals and visions of what will build a better Philadelphia before a decision is made. Such a process should consider:

  1. Job creation, both long term and immediate,
  2. Impact on neighboring communities,
  3. Impact on future developments on Market Street East
  4. Impact on the important health care systems that are immediate neighbors,
  5. How the new development will affect the flow of people in the city,
  6. Addressing the need for additional market rate and supported housing in mixed use settings,
  7. Creating a safe and attractive space for people to walk, bicycle, and use public transit

Sadly, this has not happened, and we risk a hasty decision forced by a billionaire whose major interest is not paying rent. He takes a walk in Camden and we are expected to get in line and give him whatever he wants. What his urgency suggests is that he is not a reliable partner for Philadelphia and will always be looking for the next better deal as we have seen with the sad state skipping teams in Washington DC after those owners got their new arena.

I don’t doubt that Mayor Parker believes the arena is good for the City, and that Council Person Squilla believes that the Community Benefits Agreement and some vague zoning compromise can overcome the history of underachievement of promises of arena projects, but I am sure that there has not been an open and inclusive process to make the best decision. If the Mayor’s decision is the best, it should be subjected to open discussion, consideration of the very incomplete, and sometimes inconclusive data presented, a full consideration of how the arena fits in the larger future of center city and the sports-entertainment district in South Philadelphia, and a public accounting of what course will produce the most economic benefit for Philadelphia.

  1. It fails to maximize employment opportunities for long term economic growth.

Comcast Spectacor with the backing of its parent company, a $150 billion company with strong experience in successful property development in Center City, has made an initial proposal to build a biomedical research facility, an innovation hub, at this site. Philadelphia is a medical and educational powerhouse, but it has lost 2 medical schools in recent years and it does not have the concentration of research facilities that can sustain, let alone expand our pool of world-class scientists. This alternative proposal would rescale the Fashion District’s retail space, open that space to visibility on Market Street and add significant research labs which would employ hundreds of scientific and technical staff. These are jobs that would strengthen a leading sector of Philadelphia’s economy and also provide a human presence of 1st and 2nd shift employees rather than the sports arena dead daytime and evening space for half the year. I would suggest that this is also an opportunity to get Jefferson and Penn Medicine to invest in a new bio science and technology high school in the same space as part of their civic participation in improving our education system and as a way for them to build a supply of skilled technicians and professionals for their health systems.

  1. It fails to maximize construction employment.

The basketball arena proposal has a $1.55 billion budget. This is a big project by any standard. However, the sports and entertainment district in South Philadelphia has already done a $400 million investment in improving its arena and is working with its partners on a more than $2 billion entertainment center involving hotels, restaurants, a 5500 seat entertainment venue and related businesses. If a sports arena is built on Market Street the concentration of events in South Philadelphia will be split with the new arena which will risk the entire $2 billion investment. Major projects like this depend upon the volume of events that bring people to the new entertainment center. Therefore, we are looking at sacrificing $2 billion of construction in South Philadelphia plus hundreds of millions of dollars to build the biomedical innovation center on Market Street. This means sacrificing at least $1 billion worth of construction employment which is a bad deal for union workers and a bad deal for Philadelphia.

  1. It harms Chinatown which has been under pressure from developers for decades.

The survival of Chinatown is a miracle. Chinatown also is a vital part of Philadelphia which has for many decades welcomed new Philadelphians while at the same time being an important destination for visitors from throughout the Delaware Valley. This has all happened despite constant pressures of development which would destroy Chinatown. The Vine Street Expressway, the Convention Center, New Jersey transit station, a federal prison, even a telephone company building back when there was a Bell of Pennsylvania. Throughout all of this Chinatown has continued to serve as a welcoming place for new Asian Americans, a vibrant cultural, commercial and entertainment district and an important part of Philadelphia’s urban fabric. The proposed arena will be a major economic and cultural insult to the Chinatown community. It will also fuel housing and commercial speculation that will make Chinatown unaffordable for new immigrants and existing residents alike. Further it will exacerbate traffic problems for up to 180 days per year that will harm every restaurant and store in Chinatown.

  1. It harms Old City, Washington Square West, the Gayborhood, and other surrounding communities.

Philadelphia has carefully built up Center City neighborhoods east of Broad Street. Creating a major influx of 20,000 people for a few evening hours will overwhelm these neighborhoods and not contribute to them. People will come for an event and then leave. The arena proponents even make a point of how easy it will be to come and then leave. But the arena will also put even more pressure on housing, parking, and transportation.

  1. It creates a major healthcare problem for the major health complex consisting of Thomas Jefferson University, Pennsylvania Hospital, Wills Eye Hospital, Penn Medicine and at least a dozen major healthcare buildings for outpatient and specialized services.

One medical school, many major medical and healthcare education programs from registered nursing to physical and occupational therapy to a range of medical post graduate residencies, to a range of post doc programs, as well as three hospitals and more than a dozen major medical office outpatient and specialty medical offices are all within four blocks of the proposed arena site. In 2023 there were 168,076 emergency service visits which were serious enough to create 22,856 admissions. This is in addition to 53,907 scheduled admissions. Jefferson is a designated Trauma Center and maintains its own mobile intensive care and cardiac care ambulances.

There are also more than 13,000 employees, thousands of students, more thousands of visitors to inpatients and more thousands of people from all over the region coming to the medical office buildings, some by scheduled ambulance transport.

An arena will disrupt access for all of these essential services. Market Street will be a major part of the construction site. The Jefferson SEPTA Station will be disrupted for years. The crazy quilt of parking garages will be even more crowded posing more inconvenience and access problems for patients, visitors, employees and students. This project will risk lives as the time to get to emergency services will be increased for years of construction and then for up to 180 evenings each year. The commute of thousands of workers, patients and visitors will be more difficult every day and probably more expensive.

This is a major center of healthcare for our entire region. Compromising its success and contributions to the lives and health of so many thousands of people is a recipe for chaos.

  1. It fails to consider the alternative use of the Market Street site as a bio-medical technology center.

The proposed Innovation Center will create jobs for high end scientists and for the technicians that make laboratories work. These are good paying career jobs which can continue to contribute to the region’s economy. In West Philadelphia the University City Science Center has been growing for 50 years and new research buildings are important parts of the Temple medical school campus and the Penn-CHOP-VA campus. Comcast Spectacor must present a detailed plan for this Innovation Hub, but the capability of a $160 billion company which has already developed two major landmark buildings in center city and has worked in every neighborhood of the city should be given a full hearing. Already Jefferson has expressed interest and the Innovation Center will complement its new medical research building on 11th Street. Rational public policy would meet with Comcast Spectacor and come up with an expedited schedule to present a detailed proposal and address the value of this proposal to our region and the ways to meet the concerns of the basketball team.

  1. It risks the more than $2.5 billion planned investment in the South Philadelphia sports and entertainment district.

Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and major concerts and entertainment events come to the sports and entertainment district in South Philadelphia. This concentration is good for people who attend these events and the major planned investment will enhance the experience and offer opportunities to extend their entertainment time in a safe and open environment. Think of the best shore boardwalk you have ever visited or envisioned. These enhanced districts have worked in other cities, and it can work here. The major threat to such a major investment is a smaller flow of people. Virtually all of the data states clearly that the Philadelphia regional market is not big enough to support two major arenas. If we end up with two arenas capable of hosting an NBA team, neither will succeed and their competition will just weaken both. At the same time, if a second arena is built in center city the smaller flow of people to the South Philadelphia district will most probably not happen and the Market Street arena will also not have the space or capacity to build an expanded entertainment district.

  1. It will cause long term damage to connecting the Independence Hall/Constitution Center area with City Hall and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Art Museum.

We need a city that is comfortably walkable and convenient to public transit. One of our historic problems is that the historic district around Independence Hall, the Constitution Center and the African American Museum does not easily connect with City Hall and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway up to the museums. Market Street East is a dead zone with the Federal Courthouse and then the Fashion District and spotty retail stores. A new arena will add blocks of blank facing walls which are neither friendly in daylight nor safe in the evening. As evidence of the perception of not being safe the community benefit agreement offered by the City and the arena people commit more than $2 million of the $50 million for CCTV cameras and enhanced street lighting. (As a side note it is a significant stretch of the idea of a community benefit that if you build something you believe is unsafe you get credit for making it less unsafe.)

  1. It will saddle the City with two major arenas neither of which will be able to attract enough events to be profitable.

The proposed deal for the arena has the City owning the land and leasing it to the basketball group. This has been done for other team arenas in the South Philadelphia entertainment district. But this is an additional arena that nearly all business analyses conclude will split the number of arena sized events with the existing Spectacor arena. This introduces an element of risk to owning an arena on Market Street. It also means that Philadelphia will not get the benefits of a strong venue that attracts the maximum number of people. There is no need to offer yet another inducement removing more land from potential tax and other revenue. If the PILOT revenue from sports teams is too low the City can renegotiate on an annual basis.

  1. It will split the part time employment at arenas between two separate venues miles apart.

Most arena work is not full time. The more events at the same location, the better it is for workers and vendors. Two arenas will split the work which will mean that vendors are stretched thin and the laborforce is either separate or going to different venues for each shift and possibly working for different vendors at different arenas. However it is organized two arenas mean more cost passed on to consumers by vendors and less income for workers.

  1. It will be costly to the City which will provide millions of dollars in subsidies to the developers who said they would not need or accept public funds as well as imposing significant new costs for the City which would not be necessary if the arenas were concentrated in South Philadelphia.

The Market Street arena proposers made a big point of not wanting public funds. Then they said that if public funds were available for other sports facilities, they would also like them. Then they added the leasing back of the space from the City. In addition, the center city arena will require a substantial City investment in traffic control and SEPTA and City patrol of the transit options, SPETA and NJ Transit for up to 180 days each year. Given the scheduling of this work, we can expect a significant percentage of it will be at overtime rates.

I believe we should all want the best outcome for the City, the neighborhoods of Market Street East, the preservation and support of Chinatown’s unique contribution to Philadelphia, the maximization of family sustaining good union jobs, the development of the science, healthcare, and tech jobs of the future, and the development of a city that supports and is friendly to residents and visitors. The recent Inquirer op ed by Harris Steinberg lists the five design criteria that the Civic Design Studio at Drexel’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation should consider for evaluating the proposed arena. They are good ideas, but none of them were the focus of the “I want my arena now or I might walk away with all my toys because I don’t believe in paying rent” proposal. The City of Philadelphia must not give in to a pressure campaign and must evaluate how to make a successful, renewed Market Street East and a successful South Philadelphia Entertainment District. Such a process will also maximize the economic and social benefit of the effort. To do less is to cave to a pressure that is simply an insult to the City. Bad process yields bad results.

Bob Brand