{"id":552566,"date":"2026-01-29T22:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/552566\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T22:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:44:12","slug":"cre-players-say-2026-could-be-phillys-turning-point-but-only-with-more-city-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/552566\/","title":{"rendered":"CRE Players Say 2026 Could Be Philly’s Turning Point, But Only With More City Investment"},"content":{"rendered":"

A spotlight will be on Philadelphia this year with the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary and a particularly robust summer sports schedule, including six World Cup<\/a> matches and the MLB All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0could mark the start of an upswing for the city\u2019s real estate market, but that isn\u2019t a foregone conclusion. Local industry leaders aren\u2019t necessarily holding their breath, and they say strategic public investments are needed to maintain momentum in 2027 and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n The World Cup and MLB All-Star game are coming to Philadelphia in 2026.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is supposed to be a catalytic event to future growth,\u201d CBRE<\/a> Senior Managing Director of Greater Philadelphia Mamadou Bald\u00e9 said Thursday during Bisnow\u2019s Philadelphia 2026 Forecast event at the Loews Hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hope is people that haven\u2019t been exposed to Philadelphia come and realize how much potential and opportunity there is here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But Bald\u00e9 cautioned that prudent developers shouldn\u2019t make bets on new projects based on the especially high activity of an event-filled year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fundamentals still take precedence,\u201d he said of Philly, which was previously the nation\u2019s poorest big city before falling to the No. 2 spot<\/a> last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While this summer\u2019s sports spectacles won’t be on the same scale, Visit Philadelphia CEO Angela Val is taking inspiration from the transformation metro Atlanta saw around the Summer Olympics it hosted in 1996.<\/p>\n

The games, which blasted inspiring images of Georgia into homes around the world, were an inflection point for what became one of the nation\u2019s hottest\u00a0markets. Greater Atlanta\u2019s population has grown by roughly 50%<\/a> since then as residents have capitalized on investments made at that time, including an expansion of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system.<\/p>\n

The momentum is still rippling through Atlanta three decades later. The city is slated to host seven World Cup matches this year, one more than Philadelphia, and will line up the games with the completion of its much-lauded Beltline mixed-use path.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is always good to use moments like this, really large events, and think about what they can really do for your city in the long run,\u201d Val said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m hoping happens is that this year goes really well, and Philadelphians take more chances and bigger swings,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Bisnow\/Noah Zucker\n <\/p>\n

\n Visit Philadelphia’s Angela Val, CBRE’s Mamadou Bald\u00e9 and CLA’s George Kotridis at Bisnow\u2019s Philadelphia 2026 Forecast\n <\/p>\n

Philly\u2019s big summer is in some ways a product of sports real estate decisions made in the 1990s and 2000s.<\/p>\n

The move to replace all of the venues in the\u00a0South Philadelphia Sports Complex<\/a>\u00a0around that time are what made it a World Cup and MLB All-Star game contender in 2026, Wayne Avenue Enterprises President\u00a0Bill Hankowsky<\/a>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Hotel owners are already\u00a0preparing<\/a>\u00a0for a busy summer.\u00a0CoStar<\/a>\u00a0projects 5.1% revenue-per-available-room growth in the Philadelphia market this year, up from the 1.1% growth it\u00a0calculated for 2025.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia 2026 Director Michael Newmuis shared what the city is working on for this year. In addition to the $70M officials have invested in public safety and related operations, there will be a highway beautification effort and decorative Liberty Bells installed across the city.<\/p>\n

But his plans stop short of the major investments CRE players would like to see to bolster Philadelphia\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about infrastructure and investing in infrastructure that\u2019s going to carry us for the next 100 years,\u201d\u00a0Argosy Real Estate<\/a>\u00a0partner\u00a0Sara Doelger<\/a>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Leaders of Philadelphia\u2019s cash-strapped public transit system\u00a0warned it would struggle<\/a>\u00a0to handle additional gametime passengers\u00a0as the debate around the\u00a0Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>\u2019 defunct Center City arena proposal raged in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to solve the SEPTA funding problem and put it to bed,\u201d Hankowsky said.<\/p>\n

Last summer, the agency briefly implemented service cuts as its funding was tied up amid the partisan state budget acrimony in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n

While SEPTA will be critical this summer, Val said international sports fans visiting for the World Cup are much more likely to walk than their American counterparts.<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Bisnow\/Noah Zucker\n <\/p>\n

\n Delaware River Waterfront Corp.’s Joseph Forkin, Wayne Avenue Enterprises’ Bill Hankowsky, Argosy Real Estate Partners’ Sara Doelger, Keystone Development + Investment’s Rich Gottlieb, Campus Philly’s Jennifer Kebea and Gregory’s Britni Ackrivo\n <\/p>\n

In that context, she highlighted the upcoming\u00a0Avenue of the Arts upgrades<\/a> along South Broad Street, most of which won\u2019t be complete until long after 2026, and an effort to place pop-ups in vacant Market East storefronts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarket Street East needs to look amazing,\u201d Val said.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0revitalization committee focused on the corridor<\/a> convened by Mayor Cherelle Parker<\/a> has been meeting since late last year, but few details from those conversations have been shared with the public so far.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.<\/a>\u00a0CEO Jodie Harris, a member of the committee, recalled fond memories of visiting the neighborhood as a child. She said it is hard to discard that nostalgia when thinking about what comes next for Market East.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of us are grappling with that historical context and trying to figure out what it looks like now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Keystone Development + Investment<\/a> President Rich Gottlieb<\/a>, another member of the committee, said the corridor would be a good candidate for Pennsylvania\u2019s Keystone Opportunity Zone<\/a> program designed to funnel investment toward struggling neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s done a great job,\u201d he said of what the initiative has accomplished in other parts of Philly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A spotlight will be on Philadelphia this year with the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary and a particularly robust summer…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":552567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,242277,242269,242265,242273,242280,15833,242268,242275,242279,242274,242272,242271,125681,242276,89078,47403,1266,1448,2830,1311,242267,242266,242270,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,151669,242278,21490],"class_list":["post-552566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-angela-val","tag-argosy-real-estate-partners","tag-bill-hankowsky","tag-britni-ackrivo","tag-campus-philly","tag-cbre","tag-delaware-river-waterfront-corporation","tag-george-kotridis","tag-jennifer-kebea","tag-jodie-harris","tag-joseph-forkin","tag-keystone-development-investment","tag-keystone-opportunity-zone","tag-mamadou-balde","tag-marta","tag-michael-newmuis","tag-mlb","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-industrial-development-corp","tag-rich-gottlieb","tag-sara-doelger","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-visit-philadelphia","tag-wayne-avenue-enterprises","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}