A sports district mega-development opposed by the Phillies, Eagles, and Comcast Spectacor appears to be dead
Developer Hines left the project last year, and now the zoning that enabled the project is being repealed.
A major development project that would have brought 1,367 residential units to South Philadelphia’s stadium district seems to have fallen apart since the real estate partnership behind the project ended last summer.
The project was revealed in 2024 and would have been a collaboration between Hines, an international development company, and the King of Prussia-based Philadelphia Suburban Development Corp. (PSDC), which owns the land.
It would have constructed six buildings, including an office tower and entertainment complex, to the east of the Live! Casino & Hotel where Parx Casino’s South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook and Packer Avenue Foods once stood.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who represents the area, has moved to repeal several zoning ordinances that he had passed to enable the project, despite protests from PSDC president Mark Nicoletti who says the move will kill the project.
“Hines withdrew from the project last summer,” Johnson said in a statement. “Since the plans that were presented to me at the outset of the partnership with Hines and PSDC have significantly changed, I feel it is in the best long-term interest of the residents … to introduce new legislation this year that repeals the original 2024 zoning legislation.”
Johnson advanced his repeal legislation at an early February hearing of City Council’s Rules committee. A final vote could come as soon as next week.
Nicoletti says PSDC could have developed the project without Hines, but only if the zoning legislation had remained in place.
“I’m honestly scratching my head. This makes no sense,” Nicoletti said Tuesday after the City Council hearing. “What happened today was random and inexplicable and unfortunately killed thousands of jobs and a very important economic development project.”
The project proved controversial early on, with representatives of the Phillies, Eagles, and Comcast Spectacor — which owns the Flyers — expressing concerns at a 2024 City Council hearing.
Earlier in 2024 those three organizations shared plans of their own for a mixed use development of their own in the sports stadium district.
The release occurred as debate raged around a plan from the Philadelphia 76ers to leave the stadium district and build an arena in Center City - an effort the team ultimately aborted.
But Nicoletti says his company met with local community organizations and the major sports teams about the proposal.
“We presented comprehensive plans from a top architectural firm at a dozen meetings with community groups and the teams,” Nicoletti said. “We worked through any concerns the Planning Commission had to win their support.”
But Nicoletti says the two developers went separate ways last summer because Hines did not exercise an option to buy all or part of the property from the PSDC.
Hines declined to comment.
Johnson’s legislation contained a sunset clause for the zoning overlay he created to aid the project, which would have repealed itself later this year. But he decided to act sooner.
Johnson also repealed a change in the underlying zoning from industrial to land use rules that allow mixed commercial and residential use.
If he had left that mixed-use zoning in place, the land value would have increased even without the project moving forward.
“I look forward to hearing new proposals from anyone, including PSDC, concerning new development plans for the former South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook location at 700 Packer Ave.,” Johnson’s statement read.
Johnson emphasized that any new proposal would need to be presented to neighborhood groups and get their support before he introduces any new zoning legislation.
The Hines and PSDC collaboration promised to create thousands of construction jobs, but the exit of the international developer is seen by union leadership as the catalyst for the project’s death.
“Hines stepped away from the project and that caused the Council president to look at it with a new set of eyes,” said Ryan Boyer, who leads the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council and the Laborers District Council.
“The Council president has approved correct development, but he wants the community to have a say — as is his right,” Boyer said. “But I also think that [Johnson] and Mark [Nicoletti] are both reasonable people and reasonable men will come to a resolution for both of them, and for the building trades.”