A study found that a Philadelphia Chinatown arena could negatively impact the area.
Philadelphia, we have a problem. BJH Advisors and Sojourner Consulting, the company charged with doing an impact study of building a 76ers basketball arena in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, did not come back with a total and glowing endorsement of positive impacts of building a venue in Chinatown. The report claimed that one in five of Chinatown’s small businesses would benefit from the proposed arena, while about half would see negative effects. The report claimed that the businesses that are positioned to benefit are primarily in the entertainment, food and hotel sectors. The arena will offer entertainment, that is a given and people will need to eat but why would people want to stay in a hotel because it is near an arena? If it is a luxury hotel, the other 29 NBA teams or maybe 31 by the time the arena is scheduled to open in 2031 could stay in a hotel built near the arena but that would be just a bit more than 50 days a year.
The report found that only about a quarter of small business owners in Chinatown own the properties on which they’re located, meaning the vast majority of the business owners could see rent increases. Then there is the gentrification issue. According to the report, the proposed arena would not “lead to direct housing displacement,” but it could indirectly displace people by accelerating “gentrification and loss of cultural identity in Chinatown.” Philadelphia’s Chinatown residents do not want the arena in their neighborhood and have been very vocal in their opposition to the proposal. The authors of the report seem to understand that because they put this language into the study. “In other words, Chinatown’s core identity could be significantly diminished or lost.” The arena game will go in Philadelphia but the report may not help 76ers ownership in its arena quest.
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The proposed Philadelphia 76ers arena.
