But if people were looking for details about the proposed retail and entertainment complex adjacent to the Wachovia Center, they were not released at a news conference yesterday.
"The only definite decision that is being proposed is that we are going to make Philly Live! a truly spectacular experience - a great place for shopping, dining, entertainment and gathering with friends," said Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast Spectacor and one of the two private developers behind the project.
David Cordish, a Baltimore developer whose company specializes in such complexes, called the South Philadelphia site "probably the best I have ever seen for one of our projects."
With Philly Live! surrounded by the Wachovia Center, Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park, and possibly the Spectrum, Snider and Cordish conjured images of upscale stores filled with shoppers - some going to or from ball games, some not. And it would all be fed by Interstate 95.
"It's the same people who are coming for the games," Cordish said. "They're just coming earlier and staying later."
On days when there are no games, the restaurants, clubs, theaters and shops would draw shoppers anyway.
Beyond the artists' renderings, which show a mall-like mix of shops, restaurants, clubs, movie theaters, even a hotel on the spot now occupied by the Spectrum, the answers many Philadelphians seek were not forthcoming.
How much will it all cost? When will it be completed? Where would the events at the Spectrum - Phantoms and Kixx games, the circus, the ice shows - find a home? For that matter, will the Spectrum get torn down?
The developers say the answers are to be determined, even though the artists' rendering shows a hotel where the Spectrum stands.
But the developers have a track record when it comes to providing answers.
From Philadelphia, there is Snider, the Comcast Spectacor chairman. Comcast Spectacor owns the property in question, a giant slab of parking lot that stretches between the Wachovia Center and the Spectrum.
From Baltimore, there is Cordish, chairman of the Cordish Co., a fourth-generation family business that developed parts of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, the Walk retail development in Atlantic City, and the St. Louis Ballpark Village, among others.
If some of the plans for Philly Live! seem sketchy, it is because Snider and Cordish opted to go public with their project before they had intended. The Delaware County Daily Times reported on the plans more than a week ago, which led to more stories and a flood of inquiries from media outlets.
"I don't want to keep answering these questions," Snider said.
Some questions that were answered:
No decision has been made about whether the Spectrum will be razed and replaced by a 300-room hotel. Part of the decision hinges on where about 125 events - including Phantoms and Kixx games - would find a home. Snider said some of the events likely would move to the Wachovia Center.
If the Spectrum is razed, no new, smaller stadium would be built. In that scenario, the Phantoms, who are owned by Comcast Spectacor, would be moved outside the city.
Snider said it was possible that the Spectrum could remain and that a hotel could be built somewhere on the property, perhaps near the corner of Pattison Avenue and Broad Street.
The renderings of Philly Live! are not final, nor have the developers signed any tenants.
Cordish declined to speculate on the final price tag of the project. He did foresee "several thousand" construction jobs and 3,000 to 4,000 permanent jobs.
Cordish declined to predict a start or finish date, except to say that the permit process is likely to take a year.
It took Peter Luukko, president of Comcast-Spectacor, to put in perspective how far that patch of South Philadelphia has come.
"If you look back just a decade ago, it was the Vet and the Spectrum," Luukko said. (The Wachovia Center opened in 1996, Lincoln Financial Field in 2003, and Citizens Bank Park in 2004.) "We're going to be building Philly Live! and it's going to be fantastic for the eight million or so fans who come down here."
at 215-854-5604 or jlogan@phillynews.com.
Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/joelogan.
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