A new 100,000-square-foot basketball facility in Nicetown gives Philly youths the space they crave

Kenny Holdsman believes the third time is the charm.

His Philly Youth Basketball organization has been searching for a permanent home since it was founded in 2015. First, it tried to build a complex on the sinking land of Logan Triangle, but couldn’t find stable land. Then, it was outbid by New York developers for the former Budd Co. site.

But now, PYB’s plan is finally coming together. After the organization received a $5 million gift from Sixers superfan Alan Horwitz to kick off fundraising in 2021, construction is underway at PYB’s sprawling $36 million, 100,000-square-foot facility at 4250 Wissahickon Ave. in Nicetown. The organization plans to open to the public in May.

» READ MORE: Big gift from Sixers super fan Alan Horwitz has Philadelphia Youth Basketball shooting high | Mike Jensen

It will also host an opening night gala on Thursday, Jan. 18, at the facility, with tickets still available to purchase. The enormous facility matches Holdsman’s goals for an organization that aims to do greater things than just host the city’s next generation of hoopers.

“[We are] going to open up ... the country’s most substantial and impactful youth development and community empowerment center,” he said.

Through programming at various gyms around the city, school partnerships, and its current offices on Market Street, PYB serves roughly 1,200 youths per year. With the opening of its Nicetown facility, PYB aims for that number to shoot beyond 5,000.

Basketball courts will, of course, be at the center of the facility — PYB plans for six full-length courts, plus a seventh intended for smaller children and wheelchair basketball. Each court is named in honor of Philly basketball legends, like one for former Sixer Doug Collins and another for Joel Embiid’s brother, Arthur Embiid, who died in 2014.

But the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center will also have a financial services hub, a healthy foods cafe open from 6 a.m. to midnight, a digital media lab partnered with Temple University programming, education programs for children with autism and Down syndrome, and much more.

“Young people are craving for extra spaces that are outside of school and outside of their home.”

“Basketball is merely the hook,” said Ameen Akbar, PYB’s chief mission officer. Akbar, who grew up playing basketball in Northwest Philly, explained how many of the people who came to his games were not basketball players themselves. He and the rest of PYB see an opportunity for communal uplift centered around the game.

“Granddaughter can be in our hoopers program. Grandson can go to early child development [programming]. Grandma can go to the healthy foods cafe over here and get a meal. Mom can come in an hour later [and] access the wi-fi and the family can all be in one space all around the game of basketball,” he said.

Akbar has spent years coaching basketball and working in education, and believes that the center’s function as a community gathering space led by caring adults is something that Philly youths desperately need.

“I think about [how] young people are craving for extra spaces that are outside of school and outside of their home. And I think about those spaces that I was in when I was in Philadelphia, where I had quality mentors, quality adults. And what [PYB] being that third space represents,” he said.

Basketball isn’t for everyone. But PYB insists that a young person need not have interest in the sport to get involved with the organization and for their family to have access to its facility and programming.

Kasim Wheeler, a 16-year-old from North Philly, is a member of PYB’s Youth Leadership Council, and you won’t catch him at the Horwitz Center working on his jump shot.

“I’m a business owner, not a basketball player,” he said.

Wheeler first came to PYB as a member of its entrepreneurship program, aspiring to be like his parents who both run their own businesses. Using what he learned over the 10-week program, Wheeler started a candle company, Candle With Kazz, and has plans for a T-shirt business specializing in shirts made in memory of people who have passed on.

As one of the original members of the Youth Leadership Council, he is enjoying the opportunity to shape the future of the organization with other youths.

“I wanted for people to have a voice, ... and [now], we can improve within PYB,” he said.

Holdsman knows that PYB’s project is extraordinarily ambitious. The plans for the Horwitz Center don’t even include the building next door, which PYB purchased and intends to transform into a health clinic and workforce development hub. Part of their confidence in fulfilling such goals comes from relying on partnerships instead of doing everything themselves.

“We think we’re good at a lot of things, but we’re not going to get good at doing psychotherapy or preparing a thousand meals a day or helping somebody rehab an ACL,” Holdsman said.

“We’ve been really particular about who those co-located partners are and [determining whether] they fit with our system of values that we’ve carefully curated. ... Everything is scoped and sequenced so that we can execute on a really high level and not get out over our skis.”

Still, PYB’s leadership acknowledges a heavy dose of audacity behind its work, or as Holdsman likes to describe it, sheer “gall.” But they see no other way to go about it.

“This would have been a place for me,” Akbar said.

“No matter your zip code, no matter how much your mom makes or dad makes, no matter your grades, this is a place for young people in communities. And we feel really good about that.”