City Council postpones vote on 76ers arena in Center City as negotiations drag on

City Council on Wednesday evening postponed a committee vote on the 76ers’ proposal to build an arena in Center City, leaving just hours to go before a key legislative deadline.

“Talks continue,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson told reporters. “We’re having conversations with the Sixers and [Council] members on how best to proceed to move forward. We want this deal to work. We think it’s good for the city of Philadelphia.”

Council’s Committee of the Whole, which includes all 17 members, had been scheduled to vote Wednesday on the package of legislation needed to approve the arena. Lawmakers convened briefly in the morning and again in the early evening before Johnson sent them home for the night as negotiations dragged on.

The committee was to reconvene at 8:30 a.m. Thursday and, under Council’s normal procedures, it would need to approve the legislation at that time in order for the project to be approved by the end of the year, as the 76ers have requested.

A majority of Council members are expected to ultimately vote in favor of the project, given the support it has received from the politically powerful building trades unions and other groups. But lawmakers were still in talks Wednesday with the 76ers and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration over how much the team would pay as part of the project’s community benefits agreement.

» READ MORE: A new Sixers arena could come with $50 million in community benefits. Critics ask who would gain.

The 76ers initially proposed giving $50 million toward the initiatives funded by the agreement, but Council has pressed the team to go higher. Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose district includes the proposed arena site and who introduced the legislation, has said the team should contribute at least $60 million. Some lawmakers have called for a $300 million CBA, and Johnson has floated the possibility of passing a $100 million version even if the 76ers don’t agree.

Some of the money will go to expenditures traditionally included in CBAs, such as aid for nearby businesses that would be affected by the arena’s construction. But the deal, which was originally negotiated by Parker’s office, also includes funding for unrelated citywide programs and priorities of the mayor, such as her year-round schooling initiative.

The draft of Johnson’s plan to double the agreement to $100 million includes:

Advocates for Chinatown, which borders the project’s proposed East Market Street location, have for more than two years been the project’s most visible opponents, arguing the arena would displace and disrupt businesses and residents in the historic neighborhood. John Chin, head of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., said Wednesday that the continued postponements of a committee vote were a sign that “it’s not over.”

”Chinatown is one neighborhood that has support around the city, because the people know that if Chinatown falls, the next neighborhood after that will fall,” Chin said, adding: “It’s not over today, it’s not over tomorrow, there’s more fighting to happen.”

The most important backers of the project are the politically powerful building trades unions. Mark Lynch, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, said the negotiating parties — Council and the 76ers — were “about $10 to 15 million” apart Wednesday night. He suggested the difference was small relative to a $1.3 billion project.

”We need to come together,” Lynch said. “I respect the process and supporting every community, but at the end of the day, this is about the entire city.”

If an agreement is reached, lawmakers on Thursday morning will first vote on amendments reflecting the final negotiated deal before approving the bills and resolutions, which include zoning changes, land transfer authorizations, and other measures.

Committee approval Thursday would all but guarantee that the project will be approved by City Hall by the end of the year. Johnson has said he intends to add an extra session of Council on Dec. 19 to ensure enough time for the legislation to pass.

But if a deal does not come together by Thursday, it would punt the issue into the new year and could throw the viability of the project into jeopardy. The Sixers have publicly flirted with an offer from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to build an arena on the Camden waterfront with $400 million in taxpayer subsidies.