PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia announced today that reports from third-party consultants hired to conduct a community impact assessment and an economic analysis of a proposal for a new arena in Center City would not be received until next year. The reports had been expected by the end of 2023.

“Comprehensively evaluating a proposed project of this size is an enormously complex and multifaceted process,” said Mayor Jim Kenney.  “As we’ve said, for a proposal of this scale, it is critical that we do our due diligence right and that has taken time, intentionality, and care. We expect the reports to be finalized in the new year, and our administration will do everything possible to ensure a seamless transition with the incoming administration to make sure they have the information they need.”

For additional context, the City worked with its economic development partner PIDC to hire the expert community impact and economic consultants whose studies are a critical component of the City’s due diligence to understand and evaluate the proposal. These consultants were selected in July 2023 and commenced work soon thereafter.

The community impact consultants are BJH Advisors, Sojourner Consulting, Urban Partners, Drs. Susannah Laramee Kidd and Laureen Hom, and AKRF; and CSL International is conducting the economic analysis. Convergence Design, LLC and Ian Smith Design Group were hired in October 2023 to advise the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) on arena design; JMT, an engineering firm already on retainer at the City of Philadelphia by the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability, is working with the City, PennDOT, and SEPTA to evaluate potential traffic, transportation, and parking impacts. Other due diligence efforts by the City include development of legal agreements and ordinances that will be required if the arena is to move forward.

On Monday, December 18, 2023, PCPC held a public, virtual Master Plan Civic Design Review (CDR) meeting to obtain public feedback on the proposed arena at the request of City Councilmember Mark Squilla (1st Council District). A second Master Plan CDR meeting will be held in 2024.

The City will provide updates on the release of the studies as more information becomes available. More information is available at phila.gov/arena-proposal.