Could the curse of the Disney Hole finally be coming to an end?
Might the property at 8th and Market streets — excavated decades ago for a Disney mini-theme park, only to be abandoned for years and eventually turned into a parking lot that’s slowly sinking into the earth — some day host a 400- to 600-bed hotel and 45,000 square feet of retail?
Apparently so, according to the city’s plans for the proposed new Sixers arena and a broader revival of the Market East district.
Since Mayor Cherelle Parker last week released the city’s agreement with the arena developers, attention has understandably focused on the fierce, ongoing opposition to the proposal in Chinatown and Washington Square West, as well as the deal’s financial aspects.
Those include a $50 million community benefits agreement that is meant to help Chinatown businesses, boost Parker’s housing and educational priorities, and support various city programs. The Sixers would additionally pay the city $6 million per year in lieu of taxes for 30 years.
But the presentation also reveals other intriguing plans and proposals. One slide says the Sixers “expect to submit a bid for a WNBA team,” something the team has expressed interest in previously but never committed to. Other slides say the city will launch a master-planning effort to protect and enhance Chinatown.
Also buried two-thirds of the way through the 80-page presentation is a quick survey, with photos, of the ups and down of redevelopment around the East Market corridor.
It notes the many vacant, and in some cases graffiti-scarred, commercial spaces in the area, as well as a number of mixed-use construction projects that are under way or recently completed — and some newly revealed potential projects, including the Disney Hole proposal.
“You have to admit, seeing a master plan for Market East is exciting and forward-thinking,” one development nerd wrote on X. “Philadelphia could be on the cusp of finally redoing 8th and Market.”
A history of false starts
The property in question was once home to famed department store Gimbels, which opened there in 1894, across the street from rivals Strawbridge & Clothier and Lit Brothers. In 1977, Gimbels relocated to the nearby Gallery mall (now the Fashion District), and the grand store building was demolished.
The site sat vacant for more than a decade and in the 1990s was acquired by the Goldenberg Group, developer Ken Goldenberg’s company. In 1998, the city announced a plan for a DisneyQuest arcade/theme park. Much of the block between 8th and 9th streets was dug out for a foundation, but in 2000 Disney abandoned the project.
The resulting Disney Hole crater remained for several years, fenced off but visible to the public, until it was eventually filled in and turned into a parking lot.
The dirt in the former hole has apparently settled over the years, and the parking lot has progressively cracked and sloped in places. Last summer construction vehicles were seen on the site, making repairs.
In 2013 Goldenberg proposed building a $570 million casino on the lot, but didn’t end up getting a needed state license. Redevelopment rumors have occasionally surfaced over the years, but nothing has materialized.
Will the company really do something this time?
The Blue Bell firm has a record of successful projects, having built and run a dozen strip malls and several apartment buildings in Philadelphia and the region. It’s also had some prominent failures, like the casino and a deal with the city to redevelop the notorious Logan Triangle in North Philly.
Skeptics note that there’s no timeline for the 8th and Market proposal and that, even during previous economic booms, the company never managed to make a project happen.
For its part, Goldenberg Group emphasized that the project is far from a done deal.
“Currently, we are in the preliminary stages of negotiations with multiple users, and while discussions are progressing, a development plan has not yet been finalized,” vice president for marketing Web Walker told Billy Penn.
“The Goldenberg Group remains committed to ensuring that the future development not only aligns with the needs of the community, but also our strategic long-term, transformative vision for the development of the Market East corridor, while contributing to Philadelphia’s broader urban growth strategy,” he said. “We look forward to providing updates as plans evolve.”
Ready for another hotel?
The description of the proposal in the city presentation is extremely brief: 420,000 square feet total, a hotel with 400 to 600 beds, and 45,000 square feet of retail.
It’s slotted in below a description of the larger set of projects proposed by Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, owner of the 76ers.
In addition to the arena itself, those include 453,000 square feet of development on the 1000 block of Market, including 380 residences and 28,000 square feet of retail. A second phase on the 900 block would add another 433,450 square feet, 340 residential units and 26,000 square feet of retail, in 2030.
Unlike those plans and some other multi-use buildings highlighted in the presentation, the Goldenberg proposal doesn’t mention apartments or condos, only a hotel and retail.
But Paul Levy, former president of the Center City District business association, noted that National Development’s recently completed multi-use project a couple blocks away has a 236-room hotel, and he argued that 8th and Market is a good spot for another one.
“The Convention Center is rebooking at very high volumes at this point. Visit Philadelphia is really promoting the city,” he said. “If you wanted to put [up] a hotel and you said, what are the two biggest destinations for visitors? The Convention Center to the west, Independence Hall to the east — you couldn’t have a better site.”
There isn’t demand for more downtown hotel rooms right now, but that could change by the time the project is built in three or four years, Levy said. Center City’s post-pandemic revival will continue, and the Semisesquincentennial celebration and FIFA World Cup games coming in 2026 will draw new international attention to the city, he said.
A call to “break up those walls”
Levy said the Disney Hole site is one of a few key parcels on Market Street which pose “long-term challenges” to Market East’s vitality because they remain undeveloped or underdeveloped.
One of them is another parking lot, near 13th Street and City Hall, where a proposed 32-story office tower remains unbuilt. Levy also pointed to the stretch between 9th and 11th streets, which he described as a series of “low-rise and not very strong retail” buildings. The Sixers development team would build its proposed new housing and retail spaces on some of those properties.
Levy stressed that the history and characteristics of each lot — no matter how colorful — are less important than the design of prospective redevelopment projects. For Market East to succeed, they must include a variety of uses, fill the streets with people throughout the week, and provide easy access to Chinatown and other neighborhoods to the north and south, he said.
“The really long-term hope for the street, which would include 8th and Market, is we get beyond this single-use vision of the 1970s that it shall only be shopping, or it shall only be office, and do what we know is working everywhere now in Center City and other cities, which is mixed-use development,” he said.
He praised National Development for building a model project over the past decade on six parcels between 11th and 12th and Market and Chestnut streets. It has a new tower for Jefferson Health’s outpatient treatment facilities, two apartment towers, an office building and a Canopy by Hilton hotel.
National also built a large new public space, Jefferson Plaza, at 12th and Chestnut, and a pedestrian-only street between Market Street and the development’s interior.
“They diversified, they broke up the street, they restored the kind of walkable, small-scale street vitality, and that’s how we need to look at this street,” Levy said.
The Center City District last year released a master plan tied to the arena development that called for more visitor-friendly changes along Market, such as creating two new plazas, making SEPTA’s Jefferson Station more visible, and removing obstructions to improve views toward Chinatown. It recommended incentivizing redevelopment, turning the Disney Hole site into a temporary public plaza, and holding non-sports cultural events in the area.
“An arena is coming. An arena could be a huge stimulus to public transit. It could bring many more people downtown, but that’s just one block,” Levy said. “We don’t need surface parking lots. We don’t need one-story retail. Whether it’s office or hotel or residential, we need to break up those walls and really connect the street to the rest of the city.”
