Comcast Spectacor recently presented a plan to turn the struggling Fashion District in Center City into a biomedical research facility, supplanting the proposed downtown Philadelphia 76ers arena, writes Jeff Gammage for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“We felt a responsibility to share an alternative solution that creates benefits for all community members and enhances Philadelphia’s vibrant downtown,” Dan Hilferty, CEO and chairman of Comcast Spectacor, said.
The company hopes the Sixers will remain a partner at the Wells Fargo Center and join in building a new arena in South Philadelphia on an accelerated timeline.
One of the many goals of the proposed biomedical hub is to give Thomas Jefferson University Hospital cost-effective research space and enhance its investment in its two-year-old Honickman Center.
The proposed research facility would operate year-round, help bring workers to Market East, and support restaurants and stores that suffered during the pandemic.
This proposal comes two years after the Sixers proposed its own plan to build a $1.55 billion arena and housing tower at 10th and Market Streets to help revive Market Street East.
Many in the adjacent Chinatown community strongly oppose with worry that the project would ultimately gentrify the community.
Read more about Comcast Spectacor’s new proposal and previous proposals to revive Market Street East in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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