Philly unrings the bell on Sixers Market Street arena zoning changes

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The last remnants of the Sixers deal with the city to build an arena on East Market Street are being cleared out of Philadelphia’s legislative history as City Council introduced legislation to return the area’s zoning back to its original state.

The deal died in January, but Councilmember Mark Squilla said it took until now to make sure all the legislation, including zoning changes, will be properly erased from the city’s memory.

“We introduced it to remove that with all that legislation that we did pass and therefore any of the encroachments, any of the signage ordinances and anything pertaining to street closures and things like that will be removed and withdrawn so that area will go back to its original use,” Squilla said.

He said it’s taken time to be sure all the modifications to zoning and other city regulations are properly reversed.

“They wanted to make sure they went through and had everything removed that needed to be removed and then make sure that it would go back to its original use, and there would be no negative impacts moving forward,” Squilla said.

East Market Street’s fortunes took a turn for the worse following the collapse of the arena proposal. This weekend, the Macy’s department store is vacating the Wanamaker Building, taking with it the retail anchor in the shadow of Philadelphia City Hall. Macy’s shuttered hundreds of stores nationwide as part of a restructuring. The Center City location is in the midst of a store closing sale, although the base of the building is mostly cleaned out.

Squilla said a new tenant for the Chestnut Street side of the building is close to being signed, but the structure will take extensive modifications before it can be reopened to the public.

There are also two major attractions, the bronze “Eagle” sculpture and the Wanamaker Organ that have historians and preservationists concerned. Squilla said both historic items will be taken care of.

“I think they’re looking to reinvent that with the historic use of the organ and the ‘Eagle,’” Squilla said. “They’re working with Macy’s, who owns both the light show and the Dickens Village, working with them on how to transfer those properties over to possibly a nonprofit to still be used here in the city of Philadelphia on that site.”

He added that the company that owns the Macy’s space is in negotiations with the owners of the rest of the building, with the aim of converting the upper floors into a combination of office and residential space.

In January, Mayor Cherelle Parker committed to setting up a committee to explore creative reuse of East Market Street. Squilla said the Sixers-Comcast partnership has until June to negotiate an acquisition of the property formerly known as The Gallery at Market East, now known as the Fashion District. City leaders wanted residential development to be built around the arena and that still could be part of the future for the site.

Squilla said he’s still enthusiastic about a new arena for the Sixers being built at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Details of those plans could come by the time the council returns from its summer recess.