LOVE Park is on track to re-open in November

The new and improved LOVE Park should have been open by now, until a series of unforeseen setbacks delayed its return for months. But we won’t have to wait much longer for the park’s comeback: City officials say LOVE Park is expected to open in late November in time to host the 2017 Christmas Village once again.

“The park will be 95 percent complete by November with the plantings to follow in the spring,” Jennifer Crandall, a spokesperson for Philadelphia’s Parks and Recreation Department, told Curbed Philly.

Rendering by Hargreaves Associates

The actual grand opening of the park will take place next spring “in it's full blossoming glory,” Crandall continued via e-mail. That time will also mark the return of the midcentury modern Welcome Center, which is currently undergoing a $700,000 renovation sponsored by St. Gobain.

The city broke ground on the $16.5 million renovation project of LOVE Park in February 2016 this year. Hargreaves Associates and KieranTimberlake are behind the re-design, which will have an emphasis on green lawns, fountains, gardens, and light fixtures.

But construction crews hit a snag when they came across a bunch of underground brick and stone structures at the site that the city says it “just sort of didn’t know existed.” These unexpected discoveries delayed work by months.

Construction, however, is well underway, based on recent visits to the site that showed concrete pouring and some trees ready for planting.