"Just hours" after PA State Sen. Vincent Fumo "withdrew
an amendment" to a rental-car tax bill in the state
Legislature, the Philadelphia City Council "gave preliminary
approval" to a zoning change, allowing the Eagles to build
their practice facility on the Old Naval Hospital grounds,
according to Edward Moran of the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS.
This marked "a move toward a new stadium-lease agreement
between the team and the city." Eagles Exec VP Joseph
Banner: "This is a one-step-at-a-time process, so getting
this vote [yesterday], and getting the auto tax approved is
important." More Moran: "While it has been generally
believed the stadium and practice facility were separate
projects, it was revealed for the first time publicly that
they are intertwined." Philadelphia Industrial Development
Corp. President William Hankowsky, who testified at the
hearing: "The practice facility will be part of the larger
negotiations on a new football stadium." Banner "declined
to discuss" the details of the negotiations and how the
projects "are connected," because they are all part of
"ongoing discussions on a new lease agreement and stadium-
financing deal that are not yet complete" (PHILADELPHIA
DAILY NEWS, 6/17). In Philadelphia, Clea Benson reports
that the team hopes to have the facility completed by next
summer (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/17).
