On Groundhog Day city officials and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts resident and CEO, Dr. David R. Brigham, showed off the new Lenfest Plaza, the future home of what they project to be a creative and serene atmosphere for local artists on what is now East Cherry Street. With tourist traffic around the Convention Center expected to surpass the 1.4M mark, this new plaza (designed by internationally renowned landscape architecture firm OLIN, a client of the Philadelphia Museum of Art) should open this summer and will be a nice escape from the general craziness of Center City. The project will feature outside seating, landscaped scenery, rotating works from artists, a 53-foot paintbrush sculpture from Claes Oldenburg (he did the Split Button and Clothespin structures we all know), and an upscale restaurant. The names of PAFA graduates and art vocabulary terms will be sandblasted into the precast concrete pavers complete with in-ground LED lights, glowing planters will line the Hamilton Building and student-made banners will hang from light poles along both sides of Broad Street. We hope this will augment Broad Street’s identity in a positive way and really be a safe haven to relax and enjoy in the city scene in a calm environment.