The news Sunday that Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, owners of the Philadelphia 76ers, were going to keep their team in Philadelphia – passing on a huge offer from the N.J. Economic Authority to come to Camden – certainly was disappointing to EDA CEO Tim Sullivan.
“This was a huge opportunity for Camden for South Jersey and New Jersey, so of course there’s disappointment,” he told ROI-NJ.
But it wasn’t a surprise.
“You don’t expect to win the lottery, so there’s a certain amount of realism when you take a long shot – you know how it might play out,” Sullivan said.
“But I think you have to give Gov. Murphy, first lady Tammy Murphy and lots of other people credit for identifying an opportunity that was a pipe dream that turned into a long shot, that turned into a real shot.”
It was a real shot because it came with really big incentives.
Sullivan led the state’s offer to build a multibillion-dollar facility built on state-owned land north of Ben Franklin Bridge that would have residential, commercial and retail components — making it eligible for two Aspire tax credits of up to $400M each from the EDA.
There were other incentives – including the potential restructuring of up to $500 million of special-purpose bonds to support the development of an arena – and a glorious rendering of what a Camden waterfront area could look like.
That’s why Sullivan and the state were holding out hope.
Comparing the state’s offer to the Sixers’ effort to build a new arena in Center City – which was approved by the Philadelphia City Council but never supported by anyone else – meant N.J. was still in play, Sullivan thought.
On Sunday, when it was announced that HBSE and Comcast Spectacor (which owns the NHL Flyers) would work together on a new building in South Philly as part of the city’s stadium complex area, it was game over.
Sullivan said the state has no regrets.
“To use a bit of a coach-speak here, we left it all on the field,” he said. “I don’t think we left a single play out of the playbook. From a financial perspective, I think we leaned in about as far as we could imagine doing so – just as we did with marketing the benefits of being in Jersey and being Camden.
“Ultimately, we came up a little bit short. To keep the sports metaphors going, Philly obviously always had the home-field advantage.”
Sullivan rejected the idea that the state was being used as a negotiating ploy.
“I think the fact that the Sixers and the Harris Blitzer team at the highest and most senior levels of their organization were engaged with the senior most levels of our organization, broadly speaks to the seriousness with which everyone was taking this,” he said.
“This was not a flight of fancy from our side. This was something that both sides were taking very seriously, and I think we will continue to feel good about that. I’m disappointed in the outcome, but we always knew it was a long shot.”
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Spurned by Sixers, state is eager to find new project for prime space on Camden Waterfront
Losses, Sullivan said, are part of the economic development game – if the game is being played correctly.
“The exercise of economic development is about taking some long shots,” he said. “Every now and again they pan out.
“I think there were people who probably rolled their eyes at the idea of the World Cup final coming here or Netflix coming here, but those things are happening.
“That’s why you take shots: Sometimes they hit, sometimes they don’t. But I think as long as Phil Murphy is governor, and our team is supporting him, we’re going to continue to be thoughtfully aggressive about opportunities when we see them.”