Big plans in works for site of Spectrum

Philadelphia Inquirer, The, January, 2008 by Joseph N. DiStefano Inquirer Staff Writer

Comcast-Spectacor's plan for 300,000 square feet of new restaurants, bars, stores and movie theaters, and the possible replacement of its Wachovia Spectrum by a hotel and parking garage, underscores South Philadelphia's status as a hot spot for developers despite the slump in the national economy.

"We've had the rights to do this for more than 10 years," said Comcast-Spectacor president Peter Luukko. The city, which owns the site, gave the company development rights when it built the nearby Comcast Center, which opened in 1996. Comcast-Spectacor turned down proposals for the site until a 2006 meeting with Cordish Co. of Baltimore, which has been developing sports-related properties in St. Louis and other cities. Luukko said Cordish has experience not just building, but...