Local leaders have mixed reaction to new Live Nation proposal near abandoned power plant

On just the other side of the power plant is Penn Treaty Park. John Connors, Director at the Penn Treaty Museum, isn’t too thrilled with the proximity of it.

Back in June, news broke about Live Nation’s desire to bring a new concert venue to Fishtown, right next door to the abandoned Peco power plant at 1355 Beech St. The site would also serve as a company campus for Cescaphe Events Group, a catering company based in Philadelphia, and a continuation of the Delaware River Trail.

On just the other side of the power plant is Penn Treaty Park. John Connors, director at the Penn Treaty Museum, isn’t too thrilled with the proximity of it.

“The location they’re picking is a terrible location for a lot of reasons,” he told the Star in a phone interview. Connors is concerned not only because the venue would limit parking, but also because he fears concerts in the neighborhood may attract partying concert-goers to the park, ruining the family atmosphere of it.

“People tailgate at events now,” he said. “Sporting events, concerts, people tailgate. If this happens at Penn Treaty Park, you can sit in the concert and hear the concert. If I want to bring my granddaughter at 5 p.m. to take her to the swings, I can’t do it anymore.”

Connors pointed to Festival Pier as an example of what could happen to Penn Treaty. After concerts let out — especially on Friday and Saturday nights — the area around Front and Spring Garden streets becomes party central, and with that comes lots of noise and chaos.

Connors also believes there are also traffic issues that would occur. He cited the lack of sidewalks on five blocks of Beech Street.

“I wouldn’t feel this way if Penn Treaty Park wasn’t there,” he said. “But you can’t move Penn Treaty Park. We gain nothing by having Live Nation next to Penn Treaty Park.”

For this reason, Connors hung a giant sign on the outside wall of the Penn Treaty Museum building that reads “Councilman [Mark] Squilla, Save Penn Treaty Park.” The sign also features the Live Nation logo with a cross through it.

“The councilman does not have a particular stance on this proposal,” said Squilla’s spokesperson Sean McMonagle in an email to the Star. “It will be all community-driven.”

For what it’s worth, Friends of Penn Treaty Park’s President AJ Thomson is supportive of the venue.

“From a personal perspective, I view the development as a huge leap forward for the waterfront,” Thomson said in an emailed statement to the Star. “The hulking, decrepit power plant is one huge impediment to making this stretch north of the park something special. There are few uses of this enormous space that would be economically viable aside from the one that is proposed. I certainly understand near-neighbor concerns about noise and traffic, but at some point our town needs to commit to re-establishing the waterfront as the economic engine that it was when the power plant was in operation along with the other waterfront industrial uses at that time.”

Thomson is particularly interested in working with Live Nation, an organization he spoke highly of.

“Live Nation has done a great job with the Fillmore and has just pulled the Met out of the rubble to continue the development of North Broad Street,” he wrote. “I see this partnership and this development as the key to building on the great work of Sugarhouse and the area around the Fillmore in making the Fishtown waterfront a destination. This development has the chance to employ hundreds of people, if not thousands down the line. Someday, this town will recognize what we have along the Delaware and we won’t be afraid to embrace bold visions. Hopefully, we’re at that point in time.”

Live Nation failed to respond to multiple requests for comment.