The Philadelphia City Council on Thursday approved a $1.3 billion plan to build a downtown basketball arena next to Chinatown for their hometown Philadelphia 76ers.
The votes to ratify a package of bills authorizing the Sixers to proceed, mostly by a 12-5 margin, capped more than two years over a 18,500-seat arena that supporters said would create thousands of construction jobs.
“All of Philadelphia will benefit from this project,” Ms. Parker said at a City Hall news conference after the vote. “We are about to put the next generation of skilled workers to work right here.”
Construction on the arena would begin in 2028, and would be finished in time for the 2031-32 N.B.A. season.