‘The Philadelphia Portal will remain' in city for 2 years. But where will it be?

The people behind the livestreaming Portal in Philadelphia are promising to keep the device that connects the city to other cities around the world in the City of Brotherly Love for the next couple years.

"The Philadelphia Portal will remain in Philadelphia for the next two years, at a minimum," Portals principle and Bean Foundation director Joseph Callahan said at a morning news conference on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

The Portals people have identified three new locations -- all "very close to the Center City environment of Philadelphia," Callahan said.

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He didn't reveal any specifics on the new locations or rank which one is most likely to host the Portal moving forward. He said indoor locations with public access are being considered for the next year.

"The portal will always be publicly accessible" in a place with access, regular foot traffic and "the capacity to have a celebration" in front of it, Callahan said, while noting the device attracts around 5,000 to 7,000 people daily.

We don't yet know where the Portal will be placed moving forward into 2026.

He said that the new location also won't be the Portal's last stop in Philly.

"We are anticipating that we will move the Portal closer to Independence Hall" in time for Semiquincentennial celebrations in the summer of 2026.

"As we prepare for our country's 250th birthday there is now better stage for us to exemplify what Philadelphia is made of," Callahan said.

He also said the possibility of multiple Portals in Philadelphia are possible in the summer of 2026.

The Portal will first go back online in LOVE Park

The Portal is currently in Philadelphia's LOVE Park wrapped up and nonoperational Wednesday as the group that runs the device mulls over its future.

While Callahan initially said in a statement that the Portal will remain offline for a few days until they find a new location, officials later said on Wednesday that it will be back online on Friday, March 28, at Love Park. A special ceremony will take place that morning at 7 a.m.

The plan is to then move it out of LOVE Park within the next couple weeks.

"I encourage everyone to love the Portal, respect the Portal, share the Portal and join us on this quest as we have a meaningful impact connecting the world as one without borders, without labels and without prejudice," Callahan said.

How did we get here?

The Philly Portal launched in October 2024 amid fanfare after being moved here from New York City. To start, it connected with other livestreaming devices in Dublin, Ireland; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Lublin, Poland. Those cities remain online at this time.

However, the device hit speed bumps soon after as its screen was cracked at some point and it had to be moved within LOVE Park to make room for the annual Christmas Village market.

Then, it went offline at some point in February 2025 so that crews could perform "routine maintenance and upgrades," Callahan said. The plan was for it to reopen in early March.

However, the device remained offline as Philadelphia police revealed in early March that vandals had stolen copper wiring from the Portal back on Feb. 1.

On Tuesday, March 25, the Portal was wrapped up and offline.

Callahan said "things happen," but that the Philly Portal "has received 99.99 percent of love," calling the handful of bad things to happen to it "a small negative ion in the universe."

He said there is regular security around the Portal.

He said that the "window between cities" has a natural defense mechanism of others being able to see any ill doers.

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