Orange County Great Park: Sports park, water park, ice rink, golf course

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
GP seems heavy on sports?ice rink/Duck training center, soccer fields, tennis courts, volleyball, baseball stadium, and now a water polo center/pool. How about something for the non-sports folks? I almost miss that proposal for the overpriced library 😉
 
The city changed the opening of the Baseball Stadium event time:
http://www.cityofirvine.org/news-media/news-article/new-time-opening-baseball-stadium

The community is invited to a free event on Sunday, Sept. 16, with a new starting time from 1-1:30 p.m., to officially open the new baseball stadium at the Orange County Great Park.  Free parking.

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These ballpark images are insane. Irvine already has dozens of awesome ballparks, and is now stepping up its game. We'll be checking this out Sunday.

I wonder if Irvine intends to attract massive tourneys drawing teams from many states? HBO profiled how farmland is being converted to sports complexes in middle America to attract tourism dollars:

"Youth Sports Inc-Full Segment: Real Sports (HBO)
The business of youth sports tourism is booming these days, fueled by investors who are building huge state of the art playing complexes, and parents who are willing to spend heavily on travel teams in hopes their kids can fulfill their athletic dreams. Catch Real Sports anytime on HBO OnDemand, HBO GO & HBO NOW."
 
Perspective said:
These ballpark images are insane. Irvine already has dozens of awesome ballparks, and is now stepping up its game. We'll be checking this out Sunday.

I wonder if Irvine intends to attract massive tourneys drawing teams from many states? HBO profiled how farmland is being converted to sports complexes in middle America to attract tourism dollars:

"Youth Sports Inc-Full Segment: Real Sports (HBO)
The business of youth sports tourism is booming these days, fueled by investors who are building huge state of the art playing complexes, and parents who are willing to spend heavily on travel teams in hopes their kids can fulfill their athletic dreams. Catch Real Sports anytime on HBO OnDemand, HBO GO & HBO NOW."

Probably.  That's why Irvine little league is dying.  Everyone plays travel.  Youth sports is the biggest racket. 
 
The breakfast event for GP residents was fantastic. For the first time, there were plenty of food left over. The staffs at the tables begging people literally to take more and take it home. The bacons and sausage was perfectly cooked and the got spring rolls from brodard and dim sum with the rolls as well. For the first time I was speechless with the quality and quantities of the event food.
 
Those spring rolls were from Brodards?  Wow, they really went down hill.  They were small and sad, I guess TK spring roll are better now, much larger and heartier and what Brodards used to be.

Event was good, finally 5P spending some real $ and it shows.  Nice that they have these every once in awhile, makes the mello hurt like 1% less haha.
 
WILD RIVERS - UPDATE OCTOBER 2018
http://wildrivers.com

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?The design for Wild Rivers is beginning to take form. Take a look at the latest site plan. Did we bring back the Wild Rivers' Mountain? You bet we did! You cannot tell on the plan but the mountain runs nearly the length of the site at the bottom of the site between the wavepool and the storage building. In the coming months we will be asking our fans to suggest names and colors schemes for the rides.

The only things yet to do with the City is for staff to finish their review of the environmental studies and for the City Council to approve the environmental report and approve a final lease. We hope to get this finished with the existing Council before the election.?



IHS3000 said:
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/...water-park-eyes-return-to-irvine-in-2019/amp/
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/...e-last-big-piece-of-orange-county-great-park/

Iconic Wild Rivers water park eyes return to Irvine in 2019
Tomoya Shimura
March 30, 2018 at 5:31 pm

IRVINE ? Longtime Orange County residents may be reminiscing about the summers they spent with family and friends at Wild Rivers.

There?s good news for them.

The iconic water park ? which closed in 2011 after a 25-year run to give way to the Los Olivos apartment complex ? is on track to return to Irvine in time for the summer of 2019, Wild Rivers President Mike Riedel said.

?We?re working nonstop,? he said by phone Friday, March 30. ?It?s an ambitious goal, but I think we can do it.?

Wild Rivers is working with Irvine to open an upgraded 26-acre water park at the city?s Orange County Great Park, that would feature water slides, an uphill water coaster, water play structures for children, a wave pool, a lazy river and Wild Rivers? popular Congo River Rapids. The old Wild Rivers was 14 acres.

The water park will be a part of the yet-to-be-developed, 233-acre Cultural Terrace, the final major piece of the Great Park where the city is also exploring an amphitheater, a lake, a library and museums. The water park will be along Marine Way, across from the Great Park sports park...
 

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rickr said:
Can we ask them to cancel all these projects and just lower the MR?

What if all those projects get canceled and the MR still remains? JK
I hope that Water Park comes back.

 
Mety said:
rickr said:
Can we ask them to cancel all these projects and just lower the MR?

What if all those projects get canceled and the MR still remains? JK
I hope that Water Park comes back.

Death and taxes, those certain in life. No it won't cancel even if there is nothing get built. I did see property tax did not increase during the great recessions for a couple of years other than that, it will run like clock works.
 
IHS3000 said:
WILD RIVERS - UPDATE OCTOBER 2018
http://wildrivers.com

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?The design for Wild Rivers is beginning to take form. Take a look at the latest site plan. Did we bring back the Wild Rivers' Mountain? You bet we did! You cannot tell on the plan but the mountain runs nearly the length of the site at the bottom of the site between the wavepool and the storage building. In the coming months we will be asking our fans to suggest names and colors schemes for the rides.

The only things yet to do with the City is for staff to finish their review of the environmental studies and for the City Council to approve the environmental report and approve a final lease. We hope to get this finished with the existing Council before the election.?



IHS3000 said:
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/...water-park-eyes-return-to-irvine-in-2019/amp/
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/...e-last-big-piece-of-orange-county-great-park/

Iconic Wild Rivers water park eyes return to Irvine in 2019
Tomoya Shimura
March 30, 2018 at 5:31 pm

IRVINE ? Longtime Orange County residents may be reminiscing about the summers they spent with family and friends at Wild Rivers.

There?s good news for them.

The iconic water park ? which closed in 2011 after a 25-year run to give way to the Los Olivos apartment complex ? is on track to return to Irvine in time for the summer of 2019, Wild Rivers President Mike Riedel said.

?We?re working nonstop,? he said by phone Friday, March 30. ?It?s an ambitious goal, but I think we can do it.?

Wild Rivers is working with Irvine to open an upgraded 26-acre water park at the city?s Orange County Great Park, that would feature water slides, an uphill water coaster, water play structures for children, a wave pool, a lazy river and Wild Rivers? popular Congo River Rapids. The old Wild Rivers was 14 acres.

The water park will be a part of the yet-to-be-developed, 233-acre Cultural Terrace, the final major piece of the Great Park where the city is also exploring an amphitheater, a lake, a library and museums. The water park will be along Marine Way, across from the Great Park sports park...

Looking good. I can see so much is developing in the pipe line. Thanks for posting info and keeping us salivating.
 
I LOVE THIS CONCEPT! Recently went on a tour last weekend and viewed a couple models. They told me to take a deeper look at everything great park has to offer. Very impressed to say the least. Love the environment at the pools, Kind of reminded me of Palm Springs.
-First time buyer
 
paydawg said:
The water park is part of the "cultural terrace"?  ....the irony....

Curious if rest of cultural terrace will include cultural things like art museum, natural history museum, a miniature version of Steven Choi's crazy expensive library, or even a Chinese garden (wink wink). From all the sports generating $$ buildout so far, I'm guessing not. Will settle for an Itchy and Scratchy theme park with free wifi.
 
NicholasHunter said:
I LOVE THIS CONCEPT! Recently went on a tour last weekend and viewed a couple models. They told me to take a deeper look at everything great park has to offer. Very impressed to say the least. Love the environment at the pools, Kind of reminded me of Palm Springs.
-First time buyer

A Lot to offer with increasing MR.
 
Great Park Ice opens this week for public skating on January 2! Check out their official website at www.greatparkice.com for public skating times. A grand opening should be coming up soon too.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BsBXWQIghwa/
https://www.greatparkice.com/public-skating/

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IHS3000 said:
Interesting... The new Great Park Rinks has plans to host badminton, basketball and volleyball events, too.

Ducks? new state-of-the-art practice facility taking shape at Great Park in Irvine
Elliott Teaford

August 9, 2018 at 4:32 pm
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/08/...acility-taking-shape-at-great-park-in-irvine/

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?IRVINE ? The sounds of construction echoed through the Ducks? new practice facility Thursday at the Great Park. Workers assembled the floor-to-ceiling windows along the eastern side of the building. Others drove forklifts here and there. Still others worked on door frames and aluminum duct work.

By December, if all goes as scheduled, the workers will be replaced by hockey players, figure skaters, mothers and fathers, coaches and spectators. The din of hammers and saws and trucks will be replaced by skates gliding along the ice and pucks launched from sticks.

Construction is roughly 65 percent completed.
Sometime in January, the Ducks are expected to hold their first practice in the new $104-million building, which is comprised of four rinks, including a 2,500-seat arena. It will be home not only to the Ducks, but to youth hockey programs, and will serve as a U.S. Figure Skating facility. Olympians such as Nathan Chen and Ashley Wagner are expected to train at the Great Park.

A full-service restaurant, a team store, a pro shop plus training facilities also will be housed in the state-of-the-art building, the largest in California at 280,000 square feet. Three of the rinks will be standard NHL-sized at 200 feet by 75. The fourth will be an Olympic-sized rink at 200 feet by 100.

?We?re hoping it will be one of the best in the United States,? said Art Trottier, vice president of The Rinks, the Ducks? group of nine facilities stretching from Lakewood to Anaheim and from Corona to Poway. ?We looked at the new facilities in Pittsburgh. We looked at the one in San Jose.?

Trottier dreamed for many years of building a facility that was an upgrade on Anaheim Ice, the Frank Gehry-designed practice home of the Ducks since 1994-95. The Ducks quickly outgrew the two-rink building and plans accelerated when Henry and Susan Samueli bought the team in 2005.

?This was always on their minds, since they purchased the team,? Trottier said of the Samuelis. ?There was always a goal of building our own complex. This is the first new construction (in Orange County) since Anaheim Ice.?

The Great Park, on the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, already has facilities for soccer, tennis and volleyball on part of its 1,300-acre plot of land near the junction of I-5 and I-405, at the eastern edge of Irvine.

The Ducks? new facility, privately financed through a foundation run by the Samuelis, also will host curling, short track speed skating and sled hockey in addition to hockey and figure skating. There are plans to host badminton, basketball and volleyball events, too.

The primary focus will be on hockey and figure skating. Demand for ice time has been great across The Rinks? network, according to Trottier. The new facility will ease some of the burden shared by rinks in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties.

?This is a great investment for the community, for the city of Irvine,? he said.

It also gives the Ducks the ability to spread their wings in ways they couldn?t in their previous home, or at Honda Center, where they have practiced more often than not since Randy Carlyle became their coach in the first of his two stints in 2005-06. The weight and locker rooms will be bigger and better, for example.

?We think it?s going to work,? Trottier said. ?Hockey is still growing here. Ice is impacted right now. Everyone talks hockey, but it?s going to be a great asset to the community because everybody can use it, if they want to try figure skating, if they want to play broom ball, if they want to have a birthday party.

?You can do anything here with this space.?
 

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In a few days, the city is considering a proposal and exclusive negotiating agreement for Pretend City - Children?s Museum to move to the Great Park?s Western Sector (Along Ridge Valley Rd. - Next to the new fire station and Great Park Ice).

Very exciting!!!

https://irvine.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=73&event_id=1391&meta_id=90204

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?Pretend City desires to develop a new Children's Museum at a larger site. Pretend City wishes to explore the possibility of developing and operating a new facility within the western portion of the Orange County Great Park (Great Park). The Children & Families Commission of Orange County has committed $5 million to Pretend City as catalyst funding for the purpose of moving the museum to a permanent location. Funding is contingent on Pretend City having a ground lease...?

?Pretend City is proposing to relocate to the Great Park and expand to approximately 60,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, with 30,000 square feet of exhibit area to meet the annual demand of a projected 350,000 annual visitors. The current attendance at Pretend City is constrained by the size of the facility, and more space would allow the museum to offer a greater array of exhibits and activities to attract and serve more visitors. In consultation with City staff and Pretend City representatives, an approximately six-acre site in the western portion of the Great Park has been identified to explore the possibility of developing and operating a new Pretend City Children's Museum...?

Pretend City estimates the cost of a new children's museum at $30 million, and a 24- month construction timeline for the building and exhibits. A capital campaign is planned to finance the construction of a new museum. The Children and Families Commission of Orange County has committed to providing $5 million in funding toward the construction of a new museum at a permanent location. This funding is contingent on Pretend City identifying a location and finalizing a ground lease.?
 

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