Philadelphia's Grand New Dilworth Park—How a Public-Private Partnership Delivered

Dilworth Park, on the front door of Philadelphia's City Hall, made a splashy debut yesterday, but just as impressive as the design of the park is the work of a non-profit in achieving the grand vision for the park.

1 minute read

September 5, 2014, 10:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Yesterday, Philadelphia inaugurated the new Dilworth Park, described by Ryan Briggs for Next City as "a reimagined space surrounding City Hall, complete with a sweeping lawn, a cafe, fountains, public art and a new entrance to the city’s busiest transit hub."

Briggs also notes that the new park "represents one of the largest public-private partnerships undertaken in Philadelphia to date," thanks to "over a decade of work along with $55 million…on the part of CEO Paul Levy and his Center City District (CCD), an economic development non-profit created in the 1950s to channel public and private dollars into improving a then- beleaguered downtown."

The article includes a lot more detail on the work of delivering the park.

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