The 76ers Center City Arena Will Dramatically Kill Center City! (Philadelphia: section 8, real estate)

[Redddog]

For the taxes to go up so much that they can't pay them, they would have made serious cash on the property value.

I'm not getting the argument at all.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by FindingZen

There might be an initial bump in business for the Asian restaurants in the vicinity. But the presumed popularity of the arena would also entice retail and residential interests that don't have the established community in mind. It's inevitable IMO that present business and homeowners will be enticed or compelled to sell while renters will be forced to leave.

Wouldn't this also be the case if the Vine Street Expressway were capped?, which Chinatown supports.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

I think the garage is staying. NJT stopped using the Filbert station last year because they said the buses couldn't turn out of the lot since new sidewalk bollards were installed. NJT straight up just pulls up in front of the Strawbridges building and picks people up now. Though it is a good question of how that would work with boarding and stuff with more ticketed type traveling.


A little timeline:
2019, the station is sold to an undisclosed source: https://www.phillyvoice.com/center-c...-station-sold/
2022, plans for the sixers to aquire the station become public: https://thelibertyline.com/2022/08/0...-bus-terminal/
2202, US Rep Dwight Evans says they're working with greyhound to find alternate site and that the lease is up in "a couple years": https://www.inquirer.com/business/si...-20220802.html

2023: New permits and listings for a greyhound ticket office at 6th and Market

My only concern here: Greyhound runs enough buses into and out of 10th and Filbert that it would need to put bus berths in somewhere on that property; curbside boarding and alighting simply wouldn't do there.

I'm guessing that parking garage would be modified in some way to fit bus berths in on its first level? Or maybe an upper level, Port Authority Bus Terminal-style?

Wait. You just said 6th and Market. No way a ticket office and bus depot would go in at that end of the 600 block. You have Independence Mall on the east side, the Federal courthouse on the northwest, and the landmark Rohm and Haas/Dow Chemical/<mumble> on the southwest.

I guess the Disney hole lot could be repurposed. But that's where I think the arena should go. And it's one block away at 8th anyway.

[thedirtypirate]

I think the ticket office is going in the suit corner space, 618 Market

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

My only concern here: Greyhound runs enough buses into and out of 10th and Filbert that it would need to put bus berths in somewhere on that property; curbside boarding and alighting simply wouldn't do there.

I'm guessing that parking garage would be modified in some way to fit bus berths in on its first level? Or maybe an upper level, Port Authority Bus Terminal-style?

Wait. You just said 6th and Market. No way a ticket office and bus depot would go in at that end of the 600 block. You have Independence Mall on the east side, the Federal courthouse on the northwest, and the landmark Rohm and Haas/Dow Chemical/<mumble> on the southwest.

I guess the Disney hole lot could be repurposed. But that's where I think the arena should go. And it's one block away at 8th anyway.

You reminded me of a proposal by Amtrak to build a bus terminal on the north side of 30th Street Station. Obviously that plan hasn't gone anywhere...but the arena's imminence might push that along.

https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/...-20210921.html

[Redddog]

There are so many unanswered questions here it's unbelievable.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Wouldn't this also be the case if the Vine Street Expressway were capped?, which Chinatown supports.

I wouldn't think Chinatown residents would support the cap if they felt it would adversely affect their ability to continue living there.

[PHILLYUPTOWN]

Originally Posted by FindingZen

Sure, some may decide their community ties aren't as strong as the allure of a big payday. Others might be forced out when property taxes rise dramatically as their homes become more valuable.

I have no idea what percentage of residential and business landlords in Chinatown are Asian. I have less confidence in those who aren't that they would endeavor to preserve the current integrity of the community.

A Rant

I never understood the debate, whereas we all decided that some groups of people have an inherent right to live in a particular place to the exclusion of all others; which is profoundly undemocratic and unamerican.

For example, I am black, If I and a bunch of my friends decided we wanted to live in Chinatown, and we could afford to do so, wouldn't we by our very existence disrupt "the current integrity of the community"?

Us being there would make Chinatown less Chinese, and isn't that what people are fighting for? It reminds me of the housing debates back in the 60s....redlining, covenants and all that....but, inversely, from the left. Hell, it reminds me of Israel...we need to make sure Chinatown stays Chinese at all costs!! Yuck, neighborhoods change, get over it.

I see this whole debate from a different angle; the idea that any group of peoples could decide the "ethnic" character of their community at the expense of individual choice, the free market and people's liberties. I find it frightening.

If, say, white people in Mayfair got together and said they wanted to protect the "Irish" nature of Frankford Ave, or Italians started fighting for the protection of the Italian Market at the expense of Mexicans, people would rightly have a fit...so why is it not the same in this case.

Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants are not confined to Chinatowns anymore, they're almost a relic, a disneyland for Urbanites...substantial Chinese growth is happening in the Northeast, as is their right ditto, Flushing and Astoria over Manhattan's Chinatown....so why is there this deep reflexive social justice need to protect this particular community, and at the expense of the overall health and vitality of the city at large. The Chinese are not confined to Chinatown, nor are they a marginalized group as they want people to think...as they buy up other parts of the city, wholesale, as is their right.

Not to mention, the Arena is not in Chinatown!, and in a city where people would pride the fact that we can have neighborhood transitions as little as a block away, people even throw that away to make their point.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Some of you are upset about the proposed arena when you have cities like Phoenix, AZ that has just announced that it's stopping any new development in and around the city because of water shortages. This will certainly hurt the long term economic and population growth for the city of Phoenix.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr7dqUud_Mc


A billionaire(76ers owner Josh Harris) has chosen to invest in Center City which will not only revitalize that section of downtown but will make Philadelphia an even better city than it already is. The positive ripple effect that will result from this new arena being built will override all the negative effects.

[Tweb66]

I am struggling to connect the two issues. Phoenix is a desert, Philly isn't. The Coyotes are a joke and have been that way since they left Winnipeg. Josh Harris isn't asking for public money. Whats the connection?