Civic Center acquisition stalled

Harriton High '92 Philadelphia, Pa. The University announced its plans to purchase the Philadelphia Civic Center from the city and turn the site into an ambulatory care unit for the Medical Center in an open community meeting on October 14. Since then, neither the Philadelphia community nor the University community has heard a peep from University officials about the purchase, which has an estimated price-tag of $900 million to $1 billion. In January, Medical Center Senior Vice President Gordon Williams would not comment on the negotiations, except to say "the holidays" slowed the aquisition's progress. He predicted the deal would be finalized in the spring. But as the weather turns warmer, a final draft of a real estate contract for the purchase of the Civic Center is still not visible on the horizon. "We're not even trying to predict [when negotiations will be finalized] anymore," Williams said in late April. Executive Vice President Janet Hale said in April that University officials have not communicated with city officials in over a month, and that there is still "no news" about the purchase. Williams said in April he hoped the deal would be completed over the summer. But he also said negotiations could run into the fall. Williams blamed the arrested progress of the Civic Center deal on the city. He said the city "put its full energy into getting the [Philadelphia] budget passed" during the past few months. Aside from the budgetary delays in negotiations, Williams said the complexity of the deal has also slowed the negotiation process. "There are at least 150 variables involved in this deal," he said.