As Unions Tout Sixers Arena, Chinatown Residents Resist Call To ‘Take One For The Team'

Third-generation Chinatown resident Eric Law is a huge Philly sports fan. He often wears hats from the city’s teams as a way to demonstrate his civic pride.

But the self-proclaimed Philadelphia 76ers fan who works at his parents’ Chinatown gift shop hasn’t felt comfortable repping the team since they first proposed building an arena near the neighborhood in 2022.

“As a personal protest, I haven’t worn my Sixers hat in the last two years,” Law said during a city council meeting on Tuesday, adding he can’t support a team “that’s trying to destroy my neighborhood.”

Law was far from the only detractor who testified at the spirited meeting, the public's first chance to weigh in on the $1.3B 76 Place project that would replace part of the Fashion District mall on East Market Street. The city's public transportation agency also weighed in, warning that it was in a poor position to pay for upgrades necessary to handle an influx of fans traveling to Center City on game days.

Yet the meeting also drew many union representatives and construction industry advocates arguing in favor of the arena that team officials hope will be complete by 2031 when the current lease at the Wells Fargo Center expires.

Several testified the project would create thousands of jobs and revitalize the struggling East Market corridor.

“A project of this magnitude will be a powerful job creator that the working class in the city of Philadelphia desperately needs,” said Daisy Cruz, the Mid-Atlantic district manager for Service Employees International Union. “We can not let this opportunity go anywhere else.”

The arena is projected to create 12,000 new jobs, 9,000 of which would be union construction positions, said Ben Conners, president and CEO of the General Building Contractors Association, which represents 350 local companies.

But there are hurdles ahead.

One major sticking point could be new costs incurred by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Disruptions at Jefferson Station would cost the agency between $30M and $50M over six years of construction, SEPTA Interim Director Scott Sauer said on Tuesday.

After that, SEPTA would need an extra $20M to $25M per year to provide the additional service 76 Place is projected to require. 

None of those costs are included in SEPTA’s financial plans. Even without them, the agency is facing a potential bankruptcy due to looming budget deficits.

A second point of contention is the Sixers proffered a $50M community benefits agreement, intended to fund several citywide initiatives and help mitigate the impacts construction could have on surrounding neighborhoods like Chinatown. 

Several council members and onlookers, including Cruz, have argued that the Sixers should be willing to fork over more, a prospect the team has rejected so far.

Council Member Mark Squilla, who represents the district where the arena would sit, introduced the legislation currently being considered but said last week that it’s unlikely to pass without an expanded benefits agreement.

Squilla has also proposed a new zoning overlay that would mandate affordable units in any new multifamily construction in Chinatown to help mitigate displacement caused by the arena, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Developers would need to make at least 10% of any new project with 10 or more units affordable for people making 60% or less of the area median income.

At Tuesday's hearing, proponents of the project expressed worry that the Sixers will end up moving out of Philly altogether if the current plan doesn’t come to fruition. Camden, New Jersey, has attempted to woo the team across the river.

“Nothing’s perfect,” said Ryan Boyer, the business manager for the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council. “Let’s not throw away the good trying to find the perfect.”

The Pennsylvania Convention Center, a hulking building on the western edge of Chinatown, came up several times at the hearing as an emblem of what development in Chinatown can unfurl.

Law recalled part of the current site being a parking lot where he and other neighborhood kids would play sports. His family’s business was displaced by the construction, which wrapped up in 1993.

“How many times does Chinatown have to be asked to take one for the team?” he asked.

But others pointed out that some of the minority-owned contractors the Sixers would like to hire for the arena project also got a big boost from the convention center. Boyer recalled it being an economic savior for East Market, which was also struggling in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

“It brought back the hotels in Philadelphia,” he said. “Our hospitality industry was saved.”

Philadelphia City Council has been dissecting the 76ers proposal through a series of hearings that began last week and continue into early December. Squilla told 6ABC that the council likely won’t vote on the proposal until sometime next year