After months of back and forth, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke “reached an agreement that would allow the rehabilitation of John F. Kennedy Plaza and the sale of the garage beneath LOVE Park.”
Known officially as JFK Plaza, but given its nickname of LOVE Park after Robert Indiana’s photogenic sculpture, one of Philadelphia’s iconic public spaces is due for a makeover. Until now, questions about how to finance the project were the focus of no small amount of political maneuvering between Mayor Nutter and Council President Clarke.
Now, however, the two political leaders reached an agreement that discards a controversial plan to build seven restaurants to help finance the project, according to a report by Troy Graham.
“The new park promises to be flatter, greener, and more accessible, while preserving the fountain, the LOVE sculpture, and the diagonal flow that aligns the plaza with the Benjamin Franklin Parkway,” writes Graham.
One cause of concern for the shrinking stock go boogie-style buildings around the country: “The fate of the Fairmount Park Welcome Center, the Googie-style spaceship building in the southwest corner of the plaza, is less certain.”
“With a lengthy design process to precede any construction, LOVE Park's overhaul is unlikely to be completed before Nutter leaves office in two years.”
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