In a city defined by history, the champions of Chinatown fear a new 76ers arena

Deborah Wei first wore a “No Stadium in Chinatown” T-shirt decorated with red English letters and Chinese characters in 2000, when she helped sink a proposed baseball stadium for the Phillies.

Ten years later, she wore an updated version, with the word “Stadium” crossed out and replaced with “Casino,” when local opposition derailed a Foxwoods project.

Now Ms. Wei and other activists are launching a third edition to fight what they say is the most serious threat yet: a $1.5 billion plan to build a basketball arena for the 76ers, six inches away from the southern border of Chinatown.

“I don’t know what’s next,” said Ms. Wei, a 66-year-old teacher who co-founded the community group Asian Americans United in the 1980s.

Philadelphia, a city that so carefully manages its history, is grappling with how to shape the future of its storied downtown, where like so many other businesses struggled and disorder increased during the pandemic. And with a new mayor about to be sworn in to lead the city of 1.6 million, and a package of legislation related to the Sixers’ arena expected soon, the project is entering a crucial phase.

For the Chinatown champions, the proposed arena fits into a pattern of land grabbing, paving the way for yet another sports development project. Philadelphia reminds them of what happened in Washington, St. Louis and other cities, when gentrification and redevelopment shrank or erased downtown China.

Chinatowns often emerged in the cheapest and least desirable neighborhoods, born of racism and xenophobia. But the same urban enclaves have become so coveted that their old residents are displaced. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Philadelphia’s Chinatown as one of America’s 11 most endangered historic places in 2023, next to Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, which is under pressure from a transit project after its existence squeezed by two sports stadiums.

But for the Sixers, construction unions and some business leaders, the arena promises to create jobs and revitalize an uninviting stretch of downtown Philadelphia. the poorest big city in the country, which is just a 15-minute walk from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

If neighboring neighborhoods do not benefit, the project would be a failure, said David J. Adelman, a billionaire who co-owns the 76ers who chairs the 76 DevCo development team. When he was growing up, his family would dine in Chinatown on Sundays at the Riverside restaurant, which has since been replaced by Ocean City. So a sign adorning the 10th Street Plaza – “This is, was, will be Chinatown” – feels personal.

“I got chills the first time I walked past that location,” Mr. Adelman said during an interview at the Wells Fargo Center, the current home of the 76ers, before a game against the Lakers. “I understand. We’re going to do this right. We’re going to honor and respect this and find a way to make it better.”

The 76ers first proposed the idea in July 2022and presented the latest version to a controversial urban planning panel earlier this month. The city is expected to soon release its own impact assessments, which the Sixers are paying for at the city’s request. That arrangement led to criticism, but the The city said it hired the consultants doing the job “without input from the Sixers.”

In January, Cherelle Parker will succeed Mayor Jim Kenney and become Philadelphia’s first female mayor. Although Ms. Parker, a former Democratic state representative and City Council member, has yet to approve the arena project, construction unions are among her staunchest supporters.

Mrs. Parker told reporters after her victory in November that she would prioritize “the community across the city” when making a decision, rather than a specific neighborhood.

“You can’t have a project with that potential, because it has an economic impact, without hearing the voices of the people in our city,” she said.

Yet the project is not yet a fait accompli, thanks to a powerful patchwork of skeptics such as city planners, progressive groups and the city’s largest business giant, Comcast.

The 76ers currently share the Wells Fargo Center with the Flyers; both are owned by Comcast, which also owns NBC Sports Philadelphia, the broadcaster of the Sixers’ home games. The arena is part of a sports and entertainment center on Interstate 95, where the Eagles and Phillies play, and where the city will host the World Cup 2026 matches.

The Sixers’ lease expires in 2031. In an interview, Daniel J. Hilferty, chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor’s sports and entertainment division, said the company wants the Sixers, who play 41 regular-season games at home, Stay seated. But Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainmentthe Camden, N.J.-based company that owns the team has said the Sixers will be gone by 2031.

Instead they want to be in the center – just like almost every other NBA team – and to monitor revenue from games, concerts and other events. Hence the plan for an 18,500-seat arena three blocks from City Hall.

The current project, they point out, would not reflect the development of Washington’s Capital One Arena, home of the NBA’s Wizards and the NHL’s Capitals. Washington invoked eminent domain in 1997 to build the arena, and only 10 percent of companies and organizations survived the revolution. And now the owner of the Wizards and Capitals wants that move the teams in a newly proposed sports district in Alexandria, Virginia.

“What happened in D.C. was terrible,” Mr. Adelman said at a community forum in November. “This should never have happened and it will not happen here.”

Paul R. Levy, the founder and CEO of Center City Districta business improvement organization, expressed hope that the arena would benefit the Market East area once had half a dozen department stores. Now only Macy’s remains.

“What Market East needs is a huge capital event,” he said.

But Domenic Vitielloa professor of city planning and urban studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said numerous studies have concluded this sports projects have not revitalized city centers or contributed substantially to cities’ tax bases, compared to spending on government subsidies.

“This is the consensus among honest, independent experts – not the consulting firms hired by teams and cities to justify investments that ultimately harm cities and communities,” said Mr. Vitiello. written about the “planned destruction” of Chinatowns in North America.

Research has shown that more than 90 percent of business owners, residents and visitors to Philadelphia’s Chinatown, where approximately 3,000 people live across 20 city blocks, opposes the arena. Concerns include: traffic congestion, rising rents, displaced residents and businesses, and the erosion of Chinatown’s cultural character.

Chinatown’s leaders have organized protests attracted thousands of people And submitted dozens of requests for outstanding documents for communication between the developers and government officials.

During a tour of the arena grounds, David Gould, head of diversity and impact at Harris Blitzer, acknowledged this the tensions. But he said he was proud, as a Black Philadelphia resident, to work with one Black-owned company (which it is supported by a Sixers co-owner) with experience helping underserved communities.

In Philadelphia, land use proposals typically require the support of a city council member. At least, for the Sixers’ proposal Mark Squillaa Democrat who was elected in 2011. He said he was weighing whether the community could be kept “whole” and protected from “negative consequences.”

“It’s the most lobbied project I’ve been involved in,” he said.

Chinatown is home to countless murals and plaques, commemorating the battles for a highway, a prison, a convention center and more, during a fraught period. 150 years history.

What emerged from ‘a history of struggle’ was the Folk Art-Cultural Treasures Charter School, according to the director, Pheng Lim. The K-8 school opened in 2005 in the footprint of the Phillies’ demolished stadium and has 500 students from 43 zip codes, 64 percent of whom qualify for free lunch.

“We are all part of this ecosystem, and the connections are what we try to preserve and protect and fight for,” Ms Lim said.

Earlier this year, Vancouver hosted a conference for leaders of 18 North American Chinatownsincluding Philadelphia’s, investigating disruptive developments which “exacerbate the struggle for low-income people to find affordable housing.”

If there had been such a conference in the 1960s, St. Louis Chinatown, known as Hop Alley, would have been represented.

With 300 people in Hop Alley businesses providing 60 percent of the city’s laundry services, Chinatown “played a major role economically,” according to Huping Linga history professor at Truman State University, in Kirksville, Mo.

But the area was turned into a parking lot for Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, which was demolished in 2005 to make way for another Busch Stadium.

“Chinatown has completely and physically disappeared,” she said. “It was razed to the ground.”