Plans to demolish a string of struggling Market East retail properties are facing stiff opposition from the same crowd that rallied against the Philadelphia 76ers’ defunct Center City arena plan.
The team’s parent company, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, and Comcast Spectacor spent $56M on the buildings between Ninth and 11th streets in June. Plans to raze some of them surfaced last week, apparently without any feedback from community members.
“We heard about it in the paper like everyone else,” said Asian Americans United Executive Director Vivian Chang, who helped organize the Chinatown-centric anti-arena protests last year.
“I don’t know that there is a process. … It’s just the Wild West.”
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Activists are railing against plans to tear down several Market East retail properties.
Her organization isn't the only community group speaking out against the demolitions. The Design Advocacy Group sent out a note decrying the plan Tuesday.
While DAG Chair Eli Pearlman-Storch said the structures, including the distinctive Robinson Building at 1020 Market St., may be worth saving, he and Chang wouldn’t be opposed to the demolitions if there was a long-term plan in place that they were on board with.
The vacant lots are planned to be used as a pop-up event space during the FIFA World Cup and celebrations of the nation’s 250th anniversary next year, but otherwise, no long-term vision has been shared.
Spokespeople for the Sixers and Comcast didn't respond to Bisnow’s requests for comment.
“Philadelphia has an unfortunate recent history of premature demolition before a plan is in place,” Pearlman-Storch said.
He cited Toll Brothers’ 2019 demolition of several Jewelers' Row properties, which remain vacant after the company sold the property, and the parking lot at Eighth and Market that once housed the nation’s largest department store.
The lack of community engagement and the prospect of more empty lots on the corridor infuriated the Rev. Gregory Holston, an anti-arena activist with Black Philly 4 Chinatown.
“They’re going to tear these things down and leave an empty space? That’s their answer?” he said. “After all of the pain and the hurt that Chinatown has been put through over the last two years.”
Pearlman-Storch and Chang raised concerns about the process that led to the planned demolitions.
Mayor Cherelle Parker tapped Brandywine Realty Trust CEO Jerry Sweeney to helm a Market East revitalization committee following the Sixers’ arena pivot in January and the closure of Macy’s in the Wanamaker Building.
But the committee still hadn’t met as of late last month, Councilmember Mark Squilla said at the time.
“It’s a little disappointing that it’s taken so long to put that process together,” he said during a Sept. 23 DAG event.
“They could have been working all this time up to now to put a proposal together.”
The committee's first meeting is scheduled for Monday, and Parker plans to hold a press conference about Market East on Nov. 7, city officials announced Wednesday. A city spokesperson declined to identify the committee's members.
“By working in collaboration with a wide array of stakeholders, the Advisory Group will create a roadmap for Market East that supports economic vitality, community well-being, and a vibrant future for Philadelphia,” Philadelphia Director of Planning and Development Jessie Lawrence said in a statement.
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Activists said they are concerned that there is no plan for the sites beyond next year.
These moves are too late, in Pearlman-Storch's view, especially since the Sixers and Comcast have already tapped Norristown-based Pride Enterprises for the demolitions.
“Considering that the announcement of this task force came in February and we’re more than eight months on from it, it has been too slow,” he said.
Some residents and activists see the demolitions as a “Trojan horse” that will give real estate players leverage to enact their vision for the neighborhood, Chang said.
Once the 2026 celebrations pass, she thinks the city will be desperate to identify a long-term plan for the high-profile lots and more likely to bend to the will of developers.
“There shouldn’t be demolition that moves forward unless there’s a clear plan for what happens afterward,” Chang said.
Pearlman-Storch hopes to see new residential, retail and hospitality uses that will bring more foot traffic to East Market Street.
Holston pointed to the city’s 2035 comprehensive plan, which calls for street-facing retail at what is now the Fashion District and a revitalization of the winding public transit complex that sits beneath it.
No Arena PHL, a coalition that includes AAU, came up with its own vision for the future of Market East, which it shared in June.
It includes a small-business incubator, intergenerational housing, and educational and recreational spaces — things Chang said community members need.
“We’re not anti-development,” she said.
“What we’re asking for is that it’s something that makes sense for the neighborhood.”