https://www.ocregister.com/2018/04/...ne-sports-fields-should-be-ready-this-summer/
Progress continues at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine; sports fields should be ready this summer
Tomoya Shimura
April 27, 2018 at 8:24 am
IRVINE ? If you haven?t visited the Orange County Great Park ? where you see that big orange balloon from Interstate 5 ? in the past few years, you may be surprised by the amount of construction going on and how quickly things are getting built there.
In August, the city-owned Great Park celebrated the opening of its 194-acre sports park?s first phase. It was the first major facility to open at the Great Park since a new City Council in 2013 decided to change the course of the park?s development.
The sports park ? which is the biggest of its kind in Orange County, larger than Disneyland and Disney California Adventure combined ? will eventually feature 18 new soccer and multi-use fields, 25 tennis courts, 12 baseball and softball fields and five sand volleyball courts. Completion is expected this summer, according to the latest estimate by the city.
The sports park is just the first of many features Irvine officials say are coming to the Great Park in the next few years. The 1,300-acre Great Park on the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro site should match the size of San Diego?s Balboa Park, and be more than twice the size of New York City?s Central Park, when fully built.
The Anaheim Ducks? community ice facility is slated to open by the end of 2018 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. (City of Irvine)
Developer FivePoint is building 713 acres of the Great Park, including the sports park, for the city in exchange for approval to build more than 4,600 homes adjacent to the park. That portion will also include an 18-hole golf course, trails, agricultural fields, playgrounds, open space and a wildlife corridor.
FivePoint, which plans to spend about $250 million on these facilities, will turn them over to the city as they are developed.
Here?s the latest information on the rest of the planned amenities at the Great Park:
The Wild Rivers water park, which closed in 2011, is eyeing for a return to Irvine at the Great Park by the summer of 2019. The City Council recently approved the operators doing the necessary environmental studies before finalizing lease terms.
The city is trying to hire a consultant who will help the city make a decision on what should be built at the yet-to-be-developed, 233-acre Cultural Terrace, the final major piece of the Great Park. The city is exploring an amphitheater, a lake, a library and museums there, while advocates for botanical gardens, children?s and fire museums, and a rafting and kayaking white water park are lobbying for their share.
Construction has begun on a 2.5-mile long wildlife corridor at the eastern end of the park. It is intended to be a pathway for bobcats, coyotes, California gnatcatchers and other wildlife species to move safely between the Santa Ana Mountains and the coast. The corridor, accessible only to wildlife, is expected to open mid-2019.
The Anaheim Ducks? 270,000-square-foot community ice complex and practice facility, the largest of its kind in California, is scheduled to open by the end of the year.
