Major League Soccer reportedly is close to agreeing to put an expansion team in the Philadelphia area, in part because of the promises of a stadium and financing.
Last month, Rendell announced that Pennsylvania would provide $47 million toward the anticipated cost of about $500 million for the complex, including $115 million for the stadium. DRPA officials said yesterday that the $10 million from the agency would not be used for the stadium, but for other parts of the project, which would have stores, restaurants and housing.
The only vote on the DRPA board against giving the money to the Chester project came from Robert F. Teplitz, who represents Jack Wagner, the Pennsylvania auditor general, on the board.
DRPA officials said the $10 million would boost the project's chances for success and provide a much-needed economic shot in the arm for one of Pennsylvania's poorest cities.
"There is no place in Pennsylvania more deserving of development," said John H. Estey, who acts as agency chairman in Rendell's stead. "It seems to me a worthwhile investment for the DRPA to make. . . . We have a project that is ready to go today that will service an underserved community."
Jeffrey Nash, the Camden County freeholder who is vice chairman of the authority, said that the Chester project was a smart investment and that "the public wants their leaders to make smart, prudent investments."
Estey and Nash had said in December, as the DRPA prepared its budget and faced the prospect of toll increases, that future spending by the authority would be limited to transportation-related projects.
The officials said the $10 million for Chester did not represent new spending, but a shift of funding already allocated for economic development. It had been earmarked for an entertainment complex at Penn's Landing that had not gotten off the ground.
