Thomas Paine Plaza in Philadelphia reopens Friday after $18 million in renovations
Thomas Paine Plaza, which sits at Broad and Arch streets and faces City Hall, will officially reopen Friday afternoon following an $18 million renovation. CBS News Philadelphia got an exclusive preview of the renovations
"We wanna celebrate the milestone of opening the plaza and delivering it back to the community and the residents of the city," Pedro Pinto, the deputy director of the Capital Program office of the city of Philadelphia, said.
The plaza and the municipal building, which towers above it, with many offices also housed below it, were built in 1962. The integrity of the roof below the plaza and the plaza itself were in need of repairs.
"It's one of the major civic spaces in the city," Pinto said. "This plaza is renowned for demonstration spaces, and it was critical to us to activate it and engage it with as many ppl as we could to complement the work that's been done at Dilworth and at Love Park."
The roof below the plaza has been fully repaired. And almost everything at the plaza level itself has been updated and beautified.
"We have shade structures, we have sitting areas, we have a lot of landscaping, so we increased a lot of landscaping to the space, because before it was all 100% impervious, which made the space even hotter, so we wanted to activate it," Pinto said.
An area is also designated for skateboarders who used to frequent the old space.
"We're hoping that they feel that Philly's an open and inviting place," Pinto said.