NJ Offers First Look At Potential Camden 76ers Arena
New Jersey officials hoping to lure the Philadelphia 76ers across the water are pressing their agenda by releasing a rendering of a potential new basketball arena and mixed-use entertainment development in Camden.
The New Jersey Economic Development Association is lobbying to house the professional basketball team in a proposed sports, retail and residential alternative that includes a ferry option and a commute of just 15 minutes by car or train over the Delaware River from Philadelphia, ROI-NJ reported.
To sweeten the deal, the team is offering $800M in tax breaks in addition to a rendered concept set just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge.
The proposal comes as developer 76 DevCo awaits progress on its designs to create a private $1.5B arena in Philadelphia’s Center City and a day after Mayor Cherelle Parker held a rambunctious open forum on that plan.
NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan said moving the team out of the Wells Fargo Center to Camden could have a “transformative impact” on the area.
“You see a beautiful arena, but just as importantly, you see new residential, new office space, new restaurants,” Sullivan told ROI-NJ.
The team once planned a $4B waterfront arena at Penn's Landing before that site was given to a different bidder in 2020. Its plans to build in the city's center include knocking down part of the Fashion District mall and a former Greyhound bus terminal.
But plans could once again be in flux after a new set of studies by consultants showed that the plan could indirectly cause some lower-income people living nearby to leave the area, plus the contentious Parker town hall. The 76ers have said they are considering Camden's overture.
Renderings were made public a day after a contentious town hall that saw union members show up in support of the project while rows of people supporting the Save Chinatown Coalition lined up in opposition, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Although she refused to show her own hand in the matter, Parker promised to hear everyone out.
“When it is time for me as mayor of this city to stand up and affirm where I am on this issue, you will know where I am,” Parker said.
The Sixers relocated their practice facility and office to Camden a few years ago, and their lease at Wells Fargo Center ends in 2031.
“We’ll see where it lands, but it’s something that we’re taking very seriously,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told ROI-NJ.
The Sixers' Center City plan has been controversial, not least for its impacts on neighboring Chinatown. However, at least one prominent Philly developer is in full support of the team staying in Philadelphia with its privately funded plan to use $1.5B to build a new arena at 10th and Filbert streets at Market East.
The Building Industry Association of Philadelphia “strongly supports the arena proposal on Market East,” Mo Rushdy, BIA of Philadelphia president and managing partner of Riverwards Group, said in a statement.
“This entertainment venue is much needed in our center city. Market East needs it desperately,” Rushdy said. “It would be such bad news for our beloved 76ers team to move across the river.”
Rushdy said the city should support “big things” and “challenge the status quo mentality of the past.”
