Sixers

A Walk Around the Sixers’ Proposed Arena Site and Chinatown Border

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 21st, 2023 · 2:15 PM EDT

---

One of the hot topics surrounding the Sixers’ arena proposal is the venue’s proximity to Chinatown. There’s been a lot of bias and bad-faith discussion on this point specifically, so we thought it would be a good idea to go down to the site, take a walk around the perimeter, and show you exactly where the team wants to build this thing:

The arena is not going to be built in Chinatown proper, so it is not a “Chinatown arena” and that verbiage is therefore misleading. You may have noticed that the recent protest was branded as “No Arena in the Heart of Our City,” which is certainly fair and honest.

That said, you can see quite plainly in the video that the back portion of the arena is going right up against Chinatown’s southern border, so of course there’s going to be an impact. Maybe it’s congestion during games, gentrification up along 10th street and/or competition for those mom and pop businesses, plus whatever else comes with a development of this scale. We’d all be naive to think you can just dump a huge arena on Chinatown’s border with zero impact, and no one is disputing that at all, so what you’ve seen on social and read in media headlines is the use of bogus diction to sway public opinion.

This tweet from local activist Debbie Wei provides some clarity, noting that the site “abuts our 1st business and residents” while explaining that the concern is the accompanying impact:

For what it’s worth, Sixers lead developer David Adelman is offering a $50 million community benefits agreement and says the arena will not displace any Chinatown residents or businesses. The Sixers will, however, work with tenants in the affected portion of the Fashion District to find new locations, AMC included.

(FYI we have offers out to Comcast and Chinatown reps to come on Crossing Broadcast whenever they want)

“We will not displace one resident or one business (in Chinatown) with the new arena” – Sixers co-owner @david_adelman pic.twitter.com/vTyxCOz106

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) June 9, 2023