LOVE Park's 'flying saucer' building is searching for a restaurant operator again

A restaurant with no corner tables could be on the way to JFK Plaza in Center City, at last.

The city has renewed its search for someone to create and operate a restaurant at the circular, glass-windowed "flying saucer" building in LOVE Park, a project delayed for several years by the pandemic and the loss of its first potential restaurateur.

The Parks & Recreation Department issued a request for proposals on March 23, the first step toward converting the former Fairmount Park Welcome Center at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard into a 185-seat restaurant on three levels.

The city seeks a concessionaire with at least three years’ experience in food and beverage operations and a background in overseeing design and construction. The initial lease would be 10 years with an option to renew for an additional 10 years — fairly common for restaurants. The operator would pay the city a monthly fee plus a percentage of sales. Fees will be reinvested into the care and maintenance of the park and building, the city said.

The iconic building — an example of Mid-Century design by Roy Larson of the firm now known as H2L2 — was the Philadelphia Hospitality Center when it was built in 1960 near the City Hall end of Ben Franklin Parkway. (The plaza itself, completed in 1965, was named in President John Kennedy's memory and got its nickname after a version of Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture was installed in 1976.)

As part of a two-year LOVE Park renovation completed in 2018, the building was rehabilitated and retrofitted for $5.6 million, including a contribution of more than $700,000 from St. Gobain, a manufacturer of building materials. St. Gobain also provided 2,500 square feet of energy-efficient structural glazing.

The city solicited proposals for a restaurant, and in 2019, the city appointed Safran Turney Hospitality, whose idea was named Loveluck. The project shut down through the pandemic, though Valerie Safran and Marcie Turney operated a cafe outside of the building in summer 2021.

Last summer, the city announced that Safran Turney had bowed out. In a statement, the restaurateurs — whose holdings nearby include Bud & Marilyn's and Barbuzzo — said "the pandemic and its ripple effects have created challenges that none could have anticipated. ... We’ve always been heavily involved in the daily operations of our existing businesses, but we must be more dialed in now."

The building's systems are new, but it needs a kitchen and other furnishings, said Kathryn Ott Lovell, the director of the city's Department of Parks and Recreation. The circular dining room can accommodate 50 to 55 people, with an additional 35 seats available on the deck. A patio area wrapping around much of the building could seat an additional 100 people.

In an interview, Ott Lovell said the dream tenant would be "someone who can really appreciate the environment that it is in, and not just think about this as a restaurant, but think about the restaurant in the context of this park."

Someone who has "a deep connection with Philadelphia" would be a bonus, she said, but "it's not a deal-breaker."

The city has scheduled a prebid conference for April 4 to address questions. Bids will open May 12.

Also on the local historic-restaurant front: The National Park Service's deadline for its request for proposals for a new operator for City Tavern in Old City is March 27. City Tavern, which opened in 1976 on the site of a colonial pub, closed in 2020 amid the pandemic. A park service spokesperson said fewer than a half-dozen parties had submitted proposals.