The smart thing would have been the Navy yard. Still around the complex and plenty of space in there. Could even add more bars and restaurants in there too.
Center City isn't really built to have an arena, it's too compact. The traffic and parking alone will be terrible. They're really gonna need to overhaul Septa and public transit because that is a shitshow at the moment. And then you add the homeless and crime issues which will need to be cleaned up. Plus there's the big middle finger to chinatown on top of everything.
Definitely something that sounds better in theory than in practice.
The city will fund those upgrades. Which of course could’ve been happening and providing jobs to begin with.
By the way, this, despite it being a Sixers thread, is great news for people who think Hilferty presiding over the Flyers will not work. As much as he was hired to do that, he was hired to make sure this did not happen. They tried to finance a biotech research headquarters intended to be a “better” use of the area, which didn’t work presumably, not convinced it was truly out of benefit for Chinatown more than it was blocking this, and he’s trying to have the Phillies prop him up because they’re making a deal to develop the sports complex
Comcast has a large amount of culpability here, they never should’ve sold the Sixers, it was always a bad deal, it’s aged worse as the Flyers declined, and it’s going to accelerate a desire to get their own new building in 15 years or so. And Comcast basically owns this town and they let Josh Harris weasel his way in and figured out of hubris that the last thing they’d ever want to happen in this city, could.
