PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

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Comcast and 76ers ownership purchase two swathes of East Market to redevelop

Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment (HBSE), which owns the Philadelphia 76ers, and Comcast have purchased a string of properties between Ninth and 11th along East Market Street.

The sales are a visible sign that the companies still have active development plans for the beleaguered corridor where the 76ers abandoned their proposal to build a Center City arena.

From 2022 until early this year, HBSE had planned a new home for the team on East Market Street, dubbed 76 Place, with accompanying residential and commercial development that would have included the recently purchased properties.

But after a contentious political battle, including an enabling vote in City Council backed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker in December, the team stunned observers by abruptly calling off the plans. Instead the Sixers’ owners announced a renewed alliance with Comcast Spectacor, which owns the the 76ers’ arena in South Philadelphia. The team will stay in the stadium district, albeit in a new arena.

Some believed all of HBSE’s East Market Street development plans would be abandoned or minimized as the corporate behemoths shifted their arena focus back to South Philadelphia, but the companies point to their acquisitions on East Market Street as proof that they are still committed to Center City.

“Since announcing our partnership, both the 76ers and Comcast have been clear and consistent: We want to be part of the process to reenergize East Market Street, once America’s premier commercial corridor and the bridge between City Hall and Independence Hall,” David Adelman, chairman of the joint venture between the two companies, said in a statement.

The companies spent $56 million overall to acquire the properties but declined to provide specifics about their plans for East Market Street.