Renovation work is in progress at the LOVE Park Welcome Center in LOVE Park in Center City. The two-story building stands across the street to the east of Suburban Station. The renovated structure will house a restaurant, with new lighting, exterior glass, interior and roof finishes, security, and mechanical systems. The restaurant will fit 50 to 55 patrons inside, while the balcony and terrace will seat 135 people. The architect of the project is Kieran Timberlake, who had also submitted a proposal for Penn’s Landing a number of years ago.
LOVE Park Welcome Center and City Hall. Photo by Thomas Koloski
The structure stands within LOVE Park, which was known as John F. Kennedy Plaza in 1967. Originally, the block was built out with prewar buildings, which inclluded a factory with a smokestack that rose over 200 feet tall. In the early 1920s, a number of the buildings were demolished to make way for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The so-called “Chinese Wall” was demolished by 1955, and the structures at the site were torn down shortly after. In 1965, John F. Kennedy Plaza had completed construction, and the LOVE Sculpture was added in 1976.
LOVE Park Welcome Center looking southwest. Photo by Thomas Koloski
Our site visit revealed that the building looks very close to completion. The exterior finishes and glass are all in place, along with ceiling lighting. Inside, the ceiling still appears unfinished, with the beams holding up the “saucer” visibly exposed. Ventilation and electrical work is underway, as vent channels and wires seen hanging from the ceiling.
LOVE Park Welcome Center outdoor seating. Photo by Thomas Koloski
The structure will likely finish construction by fall.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Back in the 1980’s, this circular building was known as the Philadelphia Convention and Visitor Center.
You could purchase a large replica of the Liberty Bell for approximately $100 U.S. Dollars.
Sadly, those days are long gone.
A restaurant will never replace what was once there.
Thanks for the update. 🙂
What will the restaurant be? A chain? A local enterprise? Any ideas about its future occupant?
I heard it’ll likely be a Target Cafe. But, who knows?
Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran known for revitalizing 13th Street in Midtown Village will manage the new restaurant
In November 2018 chef Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran of Safran Turney Hospitality, locals known for turning a stretch of 13th Street in Wash West aka Midtown Village into their own restaurant row (e.g., Barbuzzo, Bud & Marilyn’s, Little Nonna’s), started reconstruction of Love Park’s former Fairmount Park Welcome Center ‘saucer’ into a new bar and restaurant called Loveluck. Opening was originally scheduled for end-2019, but delays delayed the project, as delays often do, so that opening is now expected in early 2022.
Meanwhile, check out the duo’s (with partner Terence Lewis) Lawn at Loveluck, a pop-up at LOVE Park, with plenty of food and drink, picnic tables and string lights. Philadelphia-based Groundswell Design Group created the outdoor oasis with greenery and plants, including more than 1,400 pink and purple flowers. More than a dozen Sunset Maple trees have been planted, creating natural canopies that shade guests from the summer sun. In the evening hundreds of string lights hanging from the trees light the pop-up. Did I mention the food and drink? Cheers.
OMG!!
That sounds similar to Bryant Park Grill in Midtown Manhattan. 🙂
That place is popular in the summer with free movie nights at Bryant Park.