'More Of An Infomercial Than A Meeting': Critics Blast 76ers' Heavily Moderated Virtual Meeting Series

As the Philadelphia 76ers continue to make a public case for their Center City arena proposal, the team continues to run into issues with the vehemence of opposition.

76 DevCo hosted the first of a series of virtual public meetings on Zoom Tuesday night, giving a 30-minute presentation of its current proposal for 76 Place and its arguments for decisions such as not planning to build any parking.

What followed was a 90-minute question-and-answer session in which no members of the public were allowed to speak and Zoom's chat function was disabled.

Attendees submitted questions through the app's Q&A function, which were then read anonymously by 76 DevCo Chief Diversity and Impact Officer David Gould and answered by Gould and other executives associated with the project. 76 DevCo CEO and 76 Place Chair David Adelman appeared near the end of the meeting and answered questions about the future of Fashion District Philadelphia and the status of several studies underway to analyze the team's plan.

"This was more of an infomercial than a meeting," Asian Americans United interim Executive Director Neeta Patel said in a statement released after the event. "Zoom webinars are a poor excuse for real community engagement, and are not a format where the community feels seen, heard, or respected ...

"Virtual meetings where people are one step removed, not knowing what questions will be addressed or entertained, are not how you build trust and not at all how we do things in Chinatown, which is based on relationships, dialogue, and mutual respect."

One of the five virtual meetings 76 DevCo scheduled between Tuesday and the end of August will be conducted in Mandarin, and another will be conducted in Cantonese. The team plans to hold a public, in-person meeting sometime in the fall, Adelman said.

Part of 76 DevCo's presentation included the newest updates announced in the past month: a proposed mixed-income multifamily component; an offer to give the land under the arena to the city of Philadelphia and lease it back; and an estimate that the arena will give $1B in net new tax revenue to the city and its school district over the life of a 30-year ground lease. 

Based on the 76ers' projections, that benefit would average to $6.67M per year for the Philadelphia School District and $26.7M per year for the city itself. Adelman specified that the figure only accounted for the arena itself, not the increased revenue for the surrounding area that the arena would drive.

"We know we didn't get through all the questions," Adelman said as the meeting wrapped at 8 p.m. "There's [four] more of these events with community meetings, public meetings in the fall. I know some people are disappointed that they can't harass us on Zoom and do things like that, but we wanted to get through the facts, and that was the point of this meeting."

Asked why the 76ers' plan calls for obtaining legislative approval for 76 Place before the end of the year when construction isn't expected to start until 2027, Adelman pointed to the uncertain future of Fashion District Philadelphia, one-third of which 76 DevCo wants to purchase and demolish.

The company also plans to partner with controlling owner Macerich to redevelop and reimagine the remaining two-thirds, Adelman said.

"We will become part owner of that mall and have influence in that mall," Adelman said. "We're gonna change it into more of an entertainment complex and not just traditional retail, where you're buying sneakers and hats and things that currently exist there right now. We need better food. We need better amenities for families to come there on nonevent nights. And that's really the goal for us."

Fashion District has an upcoming debt maturity early next year — one of several debt crises hitting noncontrolling owner PREIT at the same time. The poor refinancing environment means that the ownership status of Fashion District can't be considered stable next year, Adelman said, citing Westfield defaulting on a loan backed by its namesake mall in San Francisco earlier this summer.

"The proceeds of our purchase would go to reduce that debt, and we're trying to make sure that doesn't happen in Philadelphia like it happened in San Francisco," Adelman said.

Though most of the attendee questions focused on parking, traffic and transit, others asked about the dozens of meetings 76 DevCo claimed to have conducted with community groups, which it said informed its updated proposal.

The exact number and attendees of those meetings will not be disclosed to protect the privacy of attendees, who feared reprisal if their willingness to meet with the 76ers became public, Gould said.

“Not one of the three billionaire developers have ever participated in a single public meeting with the Chinatown community," Patel said in her statement on behalf of Asian Americans United. "Come to Chinatown and meet our community in public and in person. It’s basic respect.”