The Philadelphia 76ers aren't building a new arena on East Market Street, but a new deal shows they haven't forgotten about the neighborhood.
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The Philadelphia 76ers and Comcast Spectacor purchased a series of properties on the south side of East Market Street late last month.
Late last month, 76ers parent company Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Comcast Spectacor spent $56M on a string of low-rise commercial properties along the south side of the corridor between Ninth and 11th streets, WHYY reported.
The deal comes after the firms announced in January that they are partnering to build a new arena to replace the Wells Fargo Center in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, where the joint venture aims to welcome a new WNBA team in 2030. The move was a pivot away from a plan to build a new arena on East Market Street, where the Sixers had also planned to build hundreds of apartments and retail.
“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, said in a statement provided to Bisnow.
“We will be developing our plans for the properties we just acquired over the coming months and we look forward to sharing those plans more publicly at the right time.”
The 112K SF of properties purchased by the venture used to be home to chains like Subway, H&R Block and Rite Aid, but many of them have been boarded up for more than a decade.
There are no plans to purchase more properties in Market East at this time, Sixers spokesperson Jacklin Rhoads told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The partnership purchased 920-934 Market St. for $23.5M, 936-938 Market St. for $6.75M, 1000-1008 Market St. for $15M, and 1010-1024 Market St. for $10.75M.
The easternmost parcel was previously held by New York City-based A&H Acquisitions Corp., while the properties next door were owned by RV Properties and 938 Market LLC.
The property at 1010-1024 Market was purchased by PREIT as part of a package in 2014 as it rebranded The Gallery mall into the Fashion District. They were transferred to Macerich when the California company bought the mall in 2020.
HBSE and Comcast bought the former Rite Aid at 1000-1008 Market St. from an ownership group that included former Goldman Sachs executive Jeanette Loeb, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.