LOVE Park to get greener, brighter with $16.5 million renovation

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- Described as the heart of Center City, every day droves of people visit LOVE Park.

The main attraction, even for locals, is the four-letter sculpture.

And now the iconic park is getting some much-needed love of its own - a $16.5 million face-lift.

"This will be a tremendous improvement over what was there," said Emanuel Kelly with the Philadelphia Art Commission. "It will look better, the fountain will be accessible."

The city's art commission gave Action News a look at the plans that were approved on Wednesday.

The renovations include a more accessible park with no steps, renovated Welcome Center and an oval-shaped fountain with a splash pad equipped with LED lighting as a focal point of the park next to the LOVE sculpture.

"One of the downfalls of the previous design was that at night this is a dark hole and was not very safe," said Kelly.

"I think the lighting would be great. It's pretty dark around here, and it would make it a focal point of the city," said Breana Warkasa of Rittenhouse Square.

The park will also shed most of its concrete for rain gardens and more grassy spaces - one of the most requested changes.

"We look forward to coming back and seeing it," said tourist Jenny Galvin.

Construction for the renovations is expected to start sometime in spring 2016.