The 76ers' efforts to build themselves a new basketball arena at Penn's Landing have ended, as the Durst Organization of N.Y. "has been selected to redevelop" the area, according to Jacob Adelman of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The decision by the board of the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. is the "latest attempt in a decades-long effort to create a riverfront for Philadelphia." In choosing Durst’s 3.5 million-square-foot proposal, the board "rejected a plan pushed by the 76ers" that the team valued at $4B, but that would have "required a big tax break." The Sixers proposal, which was to have included a "19,000-seat arena nestled among apartments, a hotel, and other commercial space," had "drawn criticism over the public subsidy that the team’s owners planned to seek for that project" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 9/10). In Philadelphia, Natalie Kostelni noted an "alternate arena site" in South Philadelphia has been "floated by Philadelphia Suburban Development Corporation." It is "unclear if the Sixers have interest in that site" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/9).
