January 12, 2026
Jon Tuleya/PhillyVoice
The city is looking for a tenant for the LOVE Park Welcome Center, near the corner 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. The building, which opened in 1960, is also known as the 'flying saucer.'
The LOVE Park Welcome Center, better known as Philly's "flying saucer" at the corner of 16th Street and JFK Boulevard, has had a star-crossed decade of vacancy and dashed hopes for renewal.
The circular, glass-paneled property, built in 1960, originally served as a hospitality hub where tourists in Center City could get brochures promoting the offerings of West Philly's sprawling Fairmount Park. It was designed to be a beacon of urban transformation after World War II, including the construction of LOVE Park that followed in the mid-1960s.
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"Philadelphia was sort of blossoming in its post-war garb, meaning a modernist-designed new office district west of City Hall replacing a Victorian-era train station that used to be there," Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, said of the building's past. "The city was also waking up to the fact that travel and tourism were growing industries."
When Philadelphia Parks & Recreation undertook a $16.5 million renovation of LOVE Park in early 2016, booting out the skateboarders and flattening the terrain into a plaza design, there were discussions about knocking down the flying saucer. The building, still serving as a visitor center, had become a quaint relic in an age with plentiful resources online for tourists. But the Preservation Alliance, defending the property's historical significance, mounted a successful campaign to keep it standing and encourage the city to reimagine its future.
Ten years later, architect Roy F. Larson's International Style building remains empty and in search of a newfound purpose.
"It's been a hurdle to get the right partner into the building for quite some time," said Katie Burns Kays, head of business development for Parks & Rec. "A lot of that is because the building needs quite a bit of work to get to a functional level – and that's a big ask, especially for small businesses."
As Philly enters a banner year for tourism in 2026, highlighted by the nation's 250th birthday and the World Cup coming to town, Parks & Rec sees an opportunity to right the ship. In the coming weeks – for the third time since 2018 – the department will issue a request for proposals seeking businesses to lease the space.
"We're thinking about a lighter, kind of pop-up model that the partner can do in 2026 knowing that it could be a bit of a pilot experience with elements of food and beverage and community programming," Burns Kays said.
The view of the Love Park Welcome Center from center of the park.
Had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, the LOVE Park flying saucer would already be occupied.
After the first RFP was issued in 2018, Parks & Rec struck a deal with Safran Turney Hospitality (the restaurant group behind Bud & Marilyn's and Little Nonna's) to open a bar and restaurant called Loveluck at the Welcome Center. The city invested $5.6 million in exterior upgrades, HVAC and electrical work to get the property ready.
Those plans came to a screeching halt when the city's pandemic restrictions took effect, decimating economic and cultural life in Center City.
"It was being worked on one day and stopped the next day," Burns Kays said.
Despite most of the renovations moving forward in 2021, Safran Turney Hospitality backed out of the lease in July 2022. Parks & Rec was left to court new vendors in the midst of Center City's pandemic recovery, hamstrung by a smaller population of office workers visiting LOVE Park. With no vendor in place, the city held off adding necessary hook-ups for its HVAC and electrical systems until it could gauge interest in the building.
When the last RFP in 2023 drew zero bids, Burns Kays said the city pivoted to a model focusing on smaller food and beverage providers who could pair their business with civic uses of the building. The city is prepared to kick in another $100,000 for building improvements.
"Not only do we want something that's a public amenity, but also it's really important that this provides an additional revenue stream for the park," she said. "Our budget is very slim, so sometimes this concession funding is very helpful."
The Preservation Alliance succeeded last year in getting the flying saucer added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. For better or worse, that means it's here to stay for the long haul. Steinke praised the city's investments in the building and said Parks & Rec rightly views it as an asset, but he remains skeptical about the property's viability for businesses.
"I've long thought that if the city could just be content operating a visitor's center there, it would be successful," he said. "Last year, I was hoping they would allow an exhibit of the history of Philadelphia architecture to be in there during 2026."
Although the property offers about 5,300 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, its configuration isn't ideal for food operations. Its basement-level bathrooms present accessibility challenges, and a plethora of coffee shops and restaurants in Center City will pose stiff competition for any business that signs a lease.
"To think that it will be the savior of the LOVE Park Welcome Center is not only misguided, but it wouldn't be appropriate for the city to use a city-owned asset to compete with those private operators," Steinke said. "... A revenue stream is probably one of their primary goals, but they may have to face reality and say, 'Well, if it's not going to be a commercial tenant paying rent, what else can we use it for?'
This photo, taken in April 1960, shows the construction of the LOVE Park Welcome Center, which originally was called the Hospitality Center.
Despite years of bad luck and discouragement, Parks & Rec officials feel confident the upcoming RFP will bring in plenty of formal bids for the flying saucer. Last year, the city issued a request for expressions of interest as a precursor to the RFP to get a sense of potential options for the space.
"We got more than 30 different proposals and that really confirmed the market interest in this concept of a mixed-use activation – maybe a cafe by day and an event and bar space by night," Burns Kays said. "It's a landmark that gives you a front-row seat to LOVE Park's energy and vibrancy."
Drawing more activity to LOVE Park isn't easy, even with the tourist magnet that is Robert Indiana's sculpture. Dilworth Park, just across the street at City Hall, has the advantage of being privately run by the nonprofit Center City District. They have more flexibility to work with sponsors and take donations to support a year-round events schedule, which makes the park more appealing to vendors.
In some instances, like the city's annual Christmas Village, Dilworth Park and LOVE Park share a synergy that spreads holiday crowds across two areas with vendors and activities. The Festival of Trees has brought a collection of Christmas trees to the flying saucer each of the last three years, providing an example of how the building can be used for public events. Parks & Rec also partnered with Mural Arts Philadelphia and the Forman Arts Initiative last year to project a series of short videos on the flying saucer that helped tell the story of the city's immigrant roots.
"I really believe the foot traffic and heat map of the park is going to drastically change once this building is activated," Burns Kays said. "It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the activities of the park shape around having a new business drawing attention. The LOVE sign can't get jealous."
When the RFP goes out, Parks & Rec will be more than happy to entertain creative business ideas. Burns Kays said leaning into the flying saucer concept would be encouraged, a point Steinke agreed could help with branding the building.
In the best-case scenario, Steinke hopes the city can find a sustainable commercial partner to ensure the building is a home for cultural education about Philadelphia.
"It was designed to provide a public service," he said.
