Philly mayor, Council president broker deal to redo Love Park

Bone-numbing cold was not enough to keep two top Philadelphia politicians from going to a famous location to sign their own peace treaty.  

The compromise is over renovations to JFK Plaza better known as LOVE park. Mayor Michael Nutter says the deal includes both more green space and possibly even a restaurant in the park. 

“We’ll work together with public input to develop a park design to enhance the amount of green space in LOVE park while providing dedicated space for concessions to generate revenue in support of this great park,” Nutter said.

Council President Darrell Clarke, who originally proposed as many as seven restaurants in the park, says the compromise has been months in the making.

“I want to say how excited I am about the prospects of having a well-balanced approach to redoing this park and bring some level of vibrancy to this park,” Clarke said. “No longer will people be talking about Bryant park in New York and in London, they are going to be talking about LOVE park in the city of Philadelphia.”

The city will seek money from private foundations for a study on the proposed renovations.  The parking garage under the park is going to be sold, but the city will retain ownership of the park above the parking spaces.