City Council gives initial approval to new Sixers arena; anti-arena activists hold gridlock protest in Center City

Having grown up in Allentown, Anlin Wang said he felt a a sense of community the first time he set foot in Chinatown, Now, with Thursday's Council vote, he said he fears for the future of the neighborhood.

“Today's vote was a demonstration of the city's failure,” said Wang, an anti-arena activist.

As cars crept up Market Street, horns honking and protest signs in windows, he said that the No Arena Coalition hopes to show Philadelphia’s a “small preview of traffic issues to come if that arena is built.”

Opponents of the 76ers proposed arena have begun a traffic protest during Thursday rush hour that they say will show the potential gridlock the project could bring to Center City.

Some vehicles have shown up with special signs and caution tape to indicate their participation in the demonstration.

There was an extra police presence, but traffic still appeared to be moving. There was a build up of cars westbound on Market Street heading towards City Hall.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker called a City Council committee vote approving the 76ers arena project “monumental,” saying in a statement Thursday that the benefits will extend “far beyond basketball.”

Parker commended Council President Kenyatta Johnson, the body’s lead negotiator, and Councilmember Mark Squilla, who represents the district where the arena is proposed to be built.

“They’ve been accessible and willing to communicate at all times, and I thank them for all of their intergovernmental collaboration,” she said. “Council President Johnson’s stewardship and management of this complex process was beyond reproach.”

Over several days of intense negotiations, City Council President Kenyatta Johnson pushed for the 76ers to dramatically increase how much the team was willing to pay as part of a community benefits agreement associated with its Center City arena project.

But in the final talks, the 76ers never blinked, and Johnson put the deal up for a key committee vote on Thursday morning.

The team had initially offered to pay $50 million as part of the CBA, which is meant to offset the impacts of the development on neighboring communities, but will also fund some citywide programs. On Tuesday, Council leaders floated legislation that would require them to pay double that.

Mya Son has worked in Chinatown for nearly 10 years, all the while at QT Vietnamese Sandwich, which she proudly called a “hole in the wall.” Her graduation photo is displayed in the kitchen, and “Friends” is usually playing on the TV.

The 24-year-old is in line to take over the restaurant from her aging Vietnamese aunt and Chinese uncle in the coming years. And then, she said, the new Sixers arena that will almost certainly be built just over a block from the shop will be her “problem to deal with.”

More than two years after the owners of the 76ers announced the team’s desire to build a $1.3 billion arena in the heart of Center City’s Market East neighborhood, Council has cleared the way for the project to move ahead.

After a Thursday morning City Council vote cleared the way for the passage of Sixers arena legislation, Chinatown business owners and anti-arena advocates said Council sold out community members.

“Arenas, stadiums will only make billionaires richer,” said Xu Lin, owner of Bubblefish restaurant in Chinatown.

Lin said he has family members who would be forced to relocate if the arena is built alongside the neighborhood.

The final sticking point in City Council’s negotiations over the arena proposal was how much the 76ers would pay as part of the project’s community benefits agreement.

The team had initially offered $50 million, and the final deal involves a $60 million contribution to the CBA, which is meant to offset the impacts of the development on neighboring communities but will also fund some citywide programs.

Here are some highlights of what changed in the final version:

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker offered to set aside $20 million in city resources to support affordable housing in Chinatown as part of a last-ditch effort to reach a deal to build the 76ers' proposed arena in Center City.

In a letter sent to Council members late Wednesday, which was obtained by The Inquirer, Parker’s director of the Department of Planning and Development said the city plans to dedicate $20 million “to affordable housing activities in the Chinatown community.”

The letter didn’t say from where that money would come or when it would be spent. It is in addition to $3 million that the Sixers have agreed to finance for housing support in Chinatown as part of a community-benefits agreement.

City Councilmember Mark Squilla, who introduced the legislation related to the Sixers arena, said Council leaders and the team were able to reach an agreement with a majority of Council members in part because Mayor Cherelle L. Parker committed to setting aside $20 million for affordable housing in Chinatown.

In brief comments to reporters after the vote, Squilla – who was being loudly shouted over by arena opponents chanting “sellout Squilla” – said the funding commitment would “offset” impacts from the construction of the arena.

That money is in addition to a $60 million community-benefits agreement that the Sixers said they would fund.

City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said the 76ers arena may create an “economic boom in Center City.”

“We're the largest poor city in America, and this is an opportunity for us to build generational wealth, but also an opportunity to revitalize Center City,” Johnson told The Inquirer shortly after the vote. “We also had opportunity to balance the interests of all parties who are concerned regarding this proposal before us.”

In the final days of negotiations before Thursday's committee vote, Johnson pushed hard for the 76ers to agree to increase how much they paid into the project’s community benefits agreement, which is meant to aid communities impacted by the project. The team initially offered $50 million before agreeing to $60 million in negotiations.

Opponents of the arena projects shouted down Council members as they cast votes Thursday morning and said after the committee adjourned that their fight against the arena was not over.

A coalition of groups that have protested against the project for months said they plan to pack Council’s chambers next week for the final vote on arena legislation and excoriated members, the majority of whom voted in favor of the project Thursday.

Mohan Seshadri, executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, said Chinatown stands to face gentrification and a loss of its cultural identity as a result of the arena.

Supporters of the arena, including members of the politically powerful Building & Construction Trades Council, erupted into applause following the committee vote Thursday, and the group’s leaders said they were ready to get to work.

Mark Lynch, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 and a key proponent of the project, said Council achieved “a great deal for all neighborhoods.”

“We’re going to put people to work,” Lynch said. “This is a win for the whole city.”

City Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier and Rue Landau said Thursday that they were open to voting in favor of legislation green-lighting the Sixers arena project, but said the agreement approved by a Council committee did not include adequate supports for Chinatown.

The deal passed Council’s Committee of the Whole in a 12-4 vote Thursday morning, with a final vote slated for next week. It included a $60 million community benefits agreement alongside a verbal agreement from Mayor Cherelle L. Parker to commit $20 million in city money to affordable housing in Chinatown.

“I didn’t even understand where the money was coming from,” said a visibly frustrated Gauthier, who spoke to reporters in the hallway following the vote. “It didn’t feel like a commitment, and it didn’t feel good enough to support Chinatown... We need a real commitment to affordable housing, not a handshake.”

As City Councilmember Mark Squilla introduced amendments to the legislation Thursday, he was repeatedly shouted down by opponents chanting, "We don't trust your process." He motioned for Council to adopt his amendments anyway, and members voted as the chambers echoed with shouting from the gallery.

Four members voted against the legislative amendments, potentially signaling how the committee vote would land.

The members who voted against it include Jamie Gauthier, Rue Landau, Nicolas O'Rourke, and Jeffery Young Jr. Councilmember Kendra Brooks, who opposes the arena, was not present.

Council President Kenyatta Johnson's office has distributed a new version of the proposed amendments to the 76ers arena legislation that includes a $60 million community benefits agreement.

If approved, the deal would represent a win for the Sixers in the final stages of negotiations. The team initially offered $50 million for the CBA, which is meant to fund programs that benefit communities impacted by the project. But lawmakers wanted the team to contribute substantially more, and the 76ers came up to $60 million during negotiations.

Over the last week, Johnson has tried several maneuvers to get the team to go further, including threatening to hold votes on versions of the CBA that called for $100 million or $75 million in spending by the team.

Opponents of the 76ers proposed arena plan to hold a demonstration during Thursday rush hour that they say will show the potential gridlock the project could bring to Center City.

The demonstration is slated to take place starting at 5:30 p.m. Participants will meet to form what organizers called a "mass caravan" at 11th and Market Streets and make their way around City Hall.

The Sixers have said that impacts on traffic congestion and parking could be blunted, as they estimate about 40% of event attendees would use public transportation to get to the arena. Currently, about 85% of spectators drive to events at the Wells Fargo Center, where the Sixers are tenants, according to facility owner Comcast Spectacor. 

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a new headline, and it clarifies the origin of the social media post, while removing an anonymous accusation on social media that was not supported by the reporting.

Hours before City Council was to vote on the Sixers arena Wednesday, critics of the project took issue with a six-figure compensation package that labor leader and arena champion Ryan Boyer earns at an investment firm cofounded by arena partner David Adelman.

Boyer, leader of the Building Trades Council and longtime business manager for Laborers District Council, owns nearly 10,000 shares in a real estate investment trust fund managed by FS Investments, which is valued at more than $223,600, according to federal securities disclosures. Since 2021, Boyer has held a board post on FS Credit REIT, one of about half a dozen funds managed by the Philadelphia-based investment company where Adelman serves as vice chairman.

City Council on Wednesday evening postponed a committee vote on the 76ers’ proposal to build an arena in Center City, leaving just hours to go before a key legislative deadline.

“Talks continue,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson told reporters. “We’re having conversations with the Sixers and [Council] members on how best to proceed to move forward. We want this deal to work. We think it’s good for the city of Philadelphia.”

Council’s Committee of the Whole, which includes all 17 members, was scheduled to vote on the package of legislation needed to approve the arena on Wednesday. Lawmakers convened briefly in morning and again in the early evening before Johnson sent them home for the night as negotiations dragged on.