UCI Ready to Start $10 Million Field of Dreams
Henry Segerstrom has sewn up the naming rights to the OC Performing Art Center’s planned concert hall for himself and his late wife Renee. But if you still want to put your or your company’s name on something, and for considerably less than $40 million, contact UCI athletic director Dan Guerrero. The university is collecting construction bids and anticipating a November groundbreaking for an on-campus baseball stadium, the centerpiece of UCI’s plan to bring back intercollegiate baseball in fall 2001. The first phase of the project, which will enable the teams to play and about 600 persons to watch, will be covered with $3.5 million from student fees. But to add other features, including a concourse and enough seating (all individual, green, slat-back grandstand seats, no bleachers) and picnic areas to accommodate about 4,000 spectators, will require another estimated $6.5 million. That’s where corporations and other private givers come in. No prices have been established, but besides the stadium itself, a clubhouse and a press box could have names, too. Guerrero thinks the timing is right: The economy is good, companies are identity-conscious and college baseball is hot. UCI was a two-time college-level national champion before budget cuts killed the program in 1992, and Guerrero thinks a classy ballpark and new coach John Savage will revive the glory days. And if folks turn out to cheer Cal State Fullerton, USC or other opponents, that’s fine by Guerrero. “We encourage that. We want to create a first-class environment. Support for the Anteaters will follow.” The project is a labor of love for Guerrero, a former second baseman good enough to make UCLA’s baseball hall of fame Speaking of baseball, Tustin High grad Shawn Green has cured his homesickness. The Dodgers star has sold his Pacific Palisades mansion for $3.9 million and bought a smaller bayside place on Balboa Peninsula for $1.8 million, reportedly so he can be closer to family and friends in Newport Beach On to politics: Among those who marched with thousands of angry protestors outside Staples Center at the Democratic convention was OC businessman, GOP operative and McCain delegate Buck Johns and his wife Colleen. “Just checking it out,” said Johns The Bill Clinton fundraiser at Ed and Sonya Grech’s has been reset for Sept. 24.
