Sixers to move practice facility to Camden

The 76ers are making arrangements to build a practice facility on Camden's Waterfront. The franchise filed for tax credits with the state of New Jersey on Friday to build an 110,000-square foot state-of-the-art practice facility.

In addition to the practice facility, the structure will house the basketball and business operations. The franchise hope to begin construction of the complex in October and move into it in 2016. The structure will be double the size of the practice facilities in the NBA, according to a league source.

Sixers CEO Scott O'Neil would only confirm that the franchise filed paperwork for tax credits in a team statement released Friday afternoon.

"We understand that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority will be voting on a possible facility on the waterfront at their upcoming meeting," he said in the statement. "We will have more to say on this matter after the EDA vote.

O'Neil didn't want to say much, because filing the tax credits is the first of two steps needed to build the structure in Camden. The authority meeting to improve the move is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Camden's Waterfront Technology Center. That is expected to be nothing more than a formality.

The cost of the facility is still undetermined, according to the league source, who also didn't divulge the amount in tax credits the Sixers will receive. However, another source believes it's a dollar-for-dollar deal - meaning if the team spent $50 million on a facility, it would be entitled to $50 million in tax credits.

Camden city spokesman Robert Corrales again declined to comment specifically on the Sixers, but said, "the city is very excited about Tuesday's agenda. We don't want to comment until the meeting."

Last week, five sources confirmed the Sixers were eyeing the waterfront to build their facility, drawn by huge tax breaks available to Camden through recent legislation. The sources said the location would be next to Campbell's Field, home of the Riversharks.

At the time, Mayor Nutter was adamant that the Sixers practice facility belonged in Philadelphia. He even told The Inquirer that the city had shown the team six public-land options in the last six months, including the Navy Yard, which Nutter said was still an option on the table.

The Sixers were also in discussions with Comcast-Spectacor owners over a private deal to build adjacent to the Well Fargo Center, where the Sixers play home games.

"But at the end of the day, [the Sixers] kept saying if they could take all the saving they could get from tax savings and punch it into bigger and nicer facilities, the only thing they are really focusing on is player development," the league source said. "They got a 100,000-square foot interest deal."

The Sixers have rented space to practice in the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in West Philadelphia since 1999. But they have been looking for a site to build their own facility.

"You got the state of New Jersey literally throwing money at the 76ers and sometimes that might be a little tough to turn down," Nutter said Friday.

While he would have preferred to keep the practice facility in Philadelphia, he said this context:"Where real tax revenues are generated, where real jobs are generated are at the Wells Fargo Center, not a practice facility."

Nutter also pointed out that the Sixers are under a long-term deal to play their basketball games at the center.

"It is where they will play their games no matter where they might possibly practice," he said.

But this move could be a win-win for both the Sixers and Camden.

Sixers coach Brett Brown has said all season a new practice facility would help attract potential free agent. While PCOM is accommodating, Brown said the equipment and office spaces are outdated and lacking for the franchise's purposes. He also added that a new facility would give the team 24/7 access, which it doesn't have at PCOM. The Sixers are currently the only NBA team without its own practice facility.

Meanwhile, in Camden, where unemployment has risen to 19 percent and 42 percent of residents live below the poverty line, development has long been a push - particularly on the parking lot-lined waterfront facing the Philadelphia skyline.

The facility would be a major coup for the city even if it does little to bolster its tax base. Camden receives $113 million of its $181 million budget from the state and its tax base is a mere $24 million. Fifty-two percent of its properties are tax exempt.

Since the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act, which expands the availability of tax incentives, rumors of major developments have spread around the city.

In February, at the mayor's State of the City address, State Sen. Donald Norcross, who sponsored the Economic Opportunity Act legislation, said announcements were expected for two major projects in the city in the next six months, but declined to name names.

Last month, the city announced a PriceRite supermarket would open in the fall at the site of the former Pathmark and on Thursday a private developer, Iron Stone, addressed City Hall about a $16 million student housing project across from the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Both projects qualified for tax credits.

At Thursday's council meeting, Council President Frank Moran said Tuesday's EDA meeting would bring another exciting announcement.

"After Tuesday," Moran said. "The flood gates are going to open for Camden."

kpompey@phillynews.com

Follow and contact Inquirer 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter @PompeyOnSixers