Mayor Parker to discuss Sixers arena proposal during town hall in Center City

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Mayor Cherelle Parker is hosting a town hall meeting on Wednesday to discuss the 76ers’ arena proposal with community members. The two-hour event will occur at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, a few blocks from where the team wants to build the $1.55 billion facility in Center City.

Fliers for the meeting started circulating on Sunday. They direct people to enter the convention center at 13th and Arch Streets. The discussion begins at 6 p.m. and will be offered in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Parker has yet to take a firm stance on the controversial project but has said the city “cannot afford” to reject any economic development opportunity summarily. She also has strong political ties with the Philadelphia Building Trades and Construction Council, an influential umbrella organization that supports the arena. The group was the first to endorse Parker during her run for mayor last year.

The mayor has privately discussed the arena with community leaders from Chinatown, which sits feet from the proposed site at 10th and Market Streets. Wednesday’s meeting will be the first time Parker has publicly addressed the project with community stakeholders since taking office in January.

The Save Chinatown Coalition, an umbrella group representing more than 200 organizations, is expected to show up in force to voice opposition to the arena. The coalition, which held a protest march on Saturday, views the proposal as an “existential threat” to the 150-year-old neighborhood.

“What we really want to know coming out of this is, ‘What is it going to take for Mayor Parker to stand with the people of this city? Does she work for us or does she work for the billionaires who own the Sixers?’” said Chinatown resident Jenny Zhang, an organizer with the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, a prominent member of the coalition.

The meeting will unfold as the Sixers seek the approvals the franchise needs to start demolition and construction.

City Council returned from the summer recess last week. The team has said it needs lawmakers to authorize the arena by the end of the year for the 18,500-seat facility to open for the 2031-2032 season when its lease expires at the Wells Fargo Center. That process largely hinges on Parker’s support for the project. Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose district includes the proposed site, has said he will introduce enabling legislation on behalf of the administration if Parker backs the development.

Squilla has not said whether he supports or opposes the project.

The Sixers argue the arena would help revitalize the blocks east of City Hall, a stretch that has struggled to thrive despite millions in investment.

Wednesday’s discussion comes roughly two weeks after the city released a group of impact studies designed to help officials tasked with weighing the value of building a downtown arena.

Consultants found the arena’s impact on Market East to be “inconclusive” while finding that Chiantown’s “core identity could be significantly diminished or lost” if the arena were built.