I'm skeptical.
Parks in an office district are a tough draw.
We already have LOVE park, which is by no means teeming w/ users, aside from the occasional protest, rally or octagenarian city planner on a skateboard.
Also, look at your comps nationwide.
Gov't Center, Boston - empty
Civic Center Plaza, San Fran - empty
Washington Park, Newark - empty
Pershing Sq, LA - empty
and so on.
The only places that seem to buck the trend are Millenium Park in Chicago and possibly City Hall in NYC.
Chicago works cuz it's a huge tourist attraction and NYC cuz it's a nice oasis in a very, very dense area.
Based on that, the chips are stacked against Dilworth Plaza.
Adjacent residential areas have Rittenhouse and Wash Sqs, which are already very established green spaces that draw residents and office workers - so you're probably not going to draw people away from there.
And unless you make 15th, Juniper, JFK and South Penn narrower and pedestrian friendlier, these streets will continue to act like a moat around Penn Sq.
It may work in a simulated world, but it is very tough to make this space functional in the real world.
Functionality aside, the aesthetics are nice.
I like the glass thingy. It reminds me of the pyramid in front of the Louvre.
And I like the idea of the ice skating rink. The river rink SUX!
I think a better idea would be a one-story glass office for Mayor Nutter.
It'd be cool to watch bums pee on it from the inside.
They got this thing outside of San Jose's city hall which is essentially the world's largest information desk (from what I've been told):
