After Losing the Promise Of A Center City Basketball Arena, Can One of America’s Oldest Historic Commerce Districts Survive?
Two weeks ago, there was a big sports weekend in Philadelphia. It wasn’t just because of the Eagles’ 22–10 win over the Green Bay Packers. Across town from the Philly Sports Complex — in the exact Center City location that just days prior had announced that Macy’s would close in the historic John Wanamaker Building at 13th and Market — came the announcement that the plan for 76 Place in Center City was off.
Instead — the new home of the 76ers — will be completed by 2031 and located in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Sometimes — the reality of a new Sixers area is hard to imagine in the 2024–2025 season, which has started this season sub-500 and whose embattled Embiid won a gold medal in Paris but does not seem likely to pierce the precipice of an NBA Finals anytime soon.
Also, two weeks ago, the Wanamaker’s Building in Philadelphia made history once again when Macy announced that it would close the store at that location in Spring 2025. The City of Philadelphia responded accordingly by announcing that the historic building would be incorporated into the revitalization plan of Market East, aided by a new arena proposal for the 76ers—until those plans changed on Sunday, and its new destination will be the sports complex in South Philadelphia.
Nothing is more Philadelphia than Wanamaker’s. South Philadelphia native and businessman John Wanamaker would open his first store. The construction of the original Oak Hall would even include the hallowed walls of the original President’s House at the same location — once occupied by Commander and Chief George Washington and John Adams.
By 1875, Wanamaker needed to purchase a former railroad Depot at 13th and Market for expansion. The construction of the subsequent building — made in the Florentine Style — came with two great items from the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1910. The first is Wanamaker’s iconic bronze Eagle, which still sits on the store property today. The second was 28,750 pipes of the Wanamaker Organ, which was placed in the Grand Court. The organ has been part of the yearly annual Christmas Light Show since 1955.
Since 1978, the organ has been classified in the Registry of Historic Places, and the city will now need a plan to keep it alive. It was undoubtedly part of Philadelphia’s new vision for one of the finest home basketball arenas in the United States, and it created jobs and had a positive economic impact on the city.
The new reality for Market East is one that Philadelphia will have to invest in without the benefit of 76 Place. The entertainment experience, shopping destination, and job creation that would have been a short walk from Jefferson Station are now all only a memory — although the City vows to honor the original $20 million investment.
Philly will not join the list of US cities with downtown arenas, such as TD Bank in Boston, the Chase Center in San Francisco, and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Whatever the outcome — let’s save the vision of one of our entrepreneurs — John Wanamaker.
Let’s save his organ and his bronze eagle alike.
PHOTO: 76 Place/Twitter/X
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