For more than a decade, the LOVE Park Welcome Center has been an empty monument to a bygone era in Center City. Several attempts to repurpose the flying saucer-shaped building have fallen flat, but city leaders are now taking another shot at finding a vendor to make use of it.
Philadelphia Parks & Recreation issued a Request for Expressions of Interest seeking ideas for the LOVE Park Welcome Center on Wednesday as the city gears up for next year's semiquincentennial celebration.
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"LOVE Park is one of Philadelphia's most treasured civic spaces, and the Saucer sits at its center," Parks and Recreation commissioner Susan Slawson said in a statement. "We are looking for a partner who shares our vision of a welcoming and joyful place that reflects Philadelphia, its neighborhoods, its culture and its people."
The city's latest solicitation of ideas will come before Parks & Recreation issues another formal Request for Proposals for the building. An RFP issued in 2023 did not draw any bids for the space. Before that, in 2019, restaurateurs Marcie Turney and Val Safran (of Bud & Marilyn's and Little Nonna's) had announced plans to open a bar and restaurant called Loveluck at the Welcome Center. They ended up dropping the project in 2022.
Built in 1960 as the Philadelphia Hospitality Center, the flying saucer predates the completion of the original LOVE Park in the mid-1960s. Located at the corner of 16th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard, it served as a tourism hub that promoted the offerings of Fairmount Park.
When plans were developed a decade ago to redesign LOVE Park, preservationists pushed to spare the building from demolition. The park's renovation was completed in 2018, and a smaller LOVE Park Visitor Center now operates in place of the gated-off flying saucer. The building is not listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
The two-story building underwent $5.6 million in renovations in 2021. It has 2,000 square feet on the upper level, 1,200 square feet on the lower level and a balcony that covers 1,100 square feet. The surrounding outdoor plaza has another 1,000 square feet with room to seat more than 60 people. The city said it still needs to complete some interior work on the building to bring it up to code.
Parks & Recreation did not immediately respond Thursday when asked why the city has had a hard time attracting vendors to the welcome center. This spring, the city has been partnering with artists on an installation that projects videos telling stories of immigrants on the windows of the LOVE Park Welcome Center.
In the RFEI, the city says it envisions the building as a "civic-focused venue" that serves food and beverages, showcases public art and serves as an anchor for programming at LOVE Park. The city is searching for a vendor that will operate year-round and have the capacity to open in early 2026, pending completion of additional work on the building.
The city is gearing up for a boom in tourism next year with events including the FIFA World Cup, MLB All-Star Game and celebrations that will surround the nation's 250th birthday.
"This is a chance to think creatively and collectively about how this space can serve Philadelphia now and in the future," Katie Burns Kays, Parks and Recreation business development manager, said in a statement. "We want to hear from food vendors, artists, entrepreneurs and anyone with a strong idea for how the Saucer can become a gathering place once again.”
Interested vendors are invited to submit proposals to the city before June 6.