Sixers seeking $82M grant for Camden facility

The Philadelphia 76ers have applied for an $82 million grant — spread out 10 years — from the state of New Jersey for a new practice facility and headquarters it hopes to build in Camden, N.J.

The amount became known Monday when the New Jersey Economic Development Authority listed the annual figure, $8,204,050, on its agenda for discussion at its June 10 meeting.

The Sixers are seeking the grant under the "Grow New Jersey Assistance Program," which provides tax breaks to companies that bring jobs to distressed areas in the state.

That program provided funding to 10 other companies since last year, ranging from $972,790 a year for 10 years awarded to Vintage Pharmaceuticals to create 25 jobs in Cranbury, N.J., to $39.5 million a year for 10 years awarded to Biovail Americas, which created 550 new jobs and help retain 270 jobs in Bridgewater, N.J.

Team officials have not publicly commented on their Camden plans to date. It's unknown exactly how many front office jobs the Sixers would bring to Camden, but more than a dozen highly paid professional basketball players will be free of Philadelphia city wage taxes when they practice in Camden. That's big dollars.

A source familiar with the discussions said the Sixers looked at other possible locations: the Philadelphia Navy Yard Corporate Center, where the team currently has offices, and the South Philadelphia stadium complex.

The Camden waterfront site, between the Adventure Aquarium and the Susquehanna Bank Center, offered the team more space for what it envisions to be a more than 100,000-square-foot complex — and the state offered a strong financial incentive package to land it, according to the source.

Since 1999, the Sixers have practiced on the campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in northwest Philadelphia.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal