PHILADELPHIA — In Center City Philadelphia, Josh Harris’ top executives say he has a $1.3 billion plan to revitalize the once thriving Market East business district. The plan calls for a sleek, state of the art basketball arena and year-round retail center for one of Harris' other teams, the Philadelphia 76ers. And it could offer clues to what the billionaire owner has in store for when he builds a new stadium for the Washington Commanders.
In an exclusive interview with WUSA9 Sports Director Chick Hernandez, Harris confirmed he and his team are actively moving forward with plans for a new Commanders stadium and revealed he his advisors have identified three sites.
“We’re studying where would our new home be,” Harris said. “We continue to look at sites in three jurisdictions. We’ll have a lot more to say about that in the coming months. It’s very complicated in the sense that each site has its own nuances in terms of the politics, the site itself, is it good for football, what do you do to the area, how do you do it, and so all that stuff is ongoing so we’re working hard.”
Sources confirm to WUSA9 the three proposed sites are in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Harris' team would not disclose the specific location of those three sites, but sources told WUSA9 the fan favorite in D.C. — the old RFK Stadium — is the location they are considering in the District.
That’s what he and his company, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment (HBSE), are trying to do in Philadelphia with an arena project, dubbed “76 Place.” WUSA9 visited the city and walked the site of the Sixers' proposed downtown arena, past many of those boarded up businesses, with HBSE Chief Diversity and Impact Officer David Gould and Chief Executive Officer Tad Brown.
“It takes a lot of intentionality,” Gould said. "But that’s something that we are doing here and absolutely something we would be looking to do in D.C. and wherever we are doing business.”
Gould estimates 70 to 80 percent of the storefronts in Philadelphia’s Market East are vacant.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Philadelphia,” Brown added. “We can amplify, and we can really help kind of shift the course of where it’s going at this point.”
A website dedicated to the new arena project estimates it will bring 12,200 jobs and inject $2.3 billion into downtown Philadelphia, generating $1.5 billion in new tax revenue over 30 years.
“When you look at how these entertainment complexes -- whether they be stadiums or arenas -- are being developed these days, it's about more than just those events that are happening on that day,” Brown said sitting inside the 76ers training facility, which sits across the Schuylkill River from Philadelphia in Camden, New Jersey.
If approved by the city of Philadelphia, 76 Place will include a year-round first floor atrium entrance on Market Street and outward facing retail to drive foot traffic on non-game days. The basketball arena itself will be one level up, which is where ticketed entry to Sixers games would be located.
“I think you see many stadiums that are being built, many arenas that are being built, have that retail component, or have that extra component around it,” Brown said. “Where you're able to create that that gameday experience that is unmatched.
Brown told WUSA9 that Harris’ model for a basketball arena, or a football stadium, is creating an economic driver for the franchise, while driving the local economy too.
“It's about making sure that not only is this a business decision and a decision for the team and for the organization, it's really something that is going to live in the community here for generations,” Brown said.
In Philadelphia, that means a $50 million community benefits agreement to lessen potential negative impacts from the new arena; adding affordable housing to the proposal; and helping to start a program called “Everybody Builds,” training those in underserved communities to work on large scale development projects like 76 Place.
“This is an opportunity to really create generational wealth for folks who are typically not in a position to benefit from it,” Gould said as he stood outside the proposed arena location, a financially failing shopping mall called “Fashion District Philadelphia.”
Brown said Commanders fans should not look at what Josh Harris is proposing in Philadelphia and think the Commanders new stadium will be a carbon copy of that, especially since one is a basketball arena, and the other is a football stadium. That means it remains unclear how the Commanders stadium deal will compare to the one Philly got, which includes a pledge of “No Cost to City Taxpayers.”
In our exclusive interviewl, Hernandez asked Harris if Commanders fan could expect a similar promise.
“Yeah, we’re looking at all that,” Harris said. “We are trying to shoulder as much of the burden as we can. Obviously, arenas and stadiums are different price tags ... You know all of us [Commanders owners] are fortunate and you know we want to shoulder as much of the burden as we can.”
But could all this building in Philadelphia affect whenthe DMV can expect a stadium for the Commanders to come to fruition? Brown said no, although it remains unclear just what that timeline would be.
“Everything's in its own time,” Brown said. “And I think what's happening in Washington is different than what's happening [in Philly].
Despite years of stadium planning by former owner Dan Synder, the new Commanders stadium will be the vision of Harris and his partners alone.
“They’re DMV guys,” Brown said. “That’s where they grew up. And so, this is incredibly important. Looking at this completely objectively, and independently, is going to be the way they go about it.”
The Philadelphia City Council is waiting on the results of a citywide economic impact on 76 Place before moving forward with final approval. The project has the support of local unions and the African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware.
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