On a clear day, one can see an awful lot going on at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. Fought over and fallow for nearly two decades, it’s now an entire sports complex on just a quarter of the acreage designated for the Great Park itself—and was completed in roughly four years.
On Sept. 16, more than 1,000 residents and elected officials joined softball, baseball teams and tennis players, commemorating the finish of Phase 2 and its crown jewel, a 1,000-seat Championship Baseball Stadium. The sports-complex project came in one year ahead of schedule, the $250 million construction cost borne by Great Park Neighborhoods-developer Five Point Holdings as part of a joint venture with the city of Irvine.
Five Point Chief Executive Emile Haddad was joined by Irvine Mayor Don Wagner and just about every Irvine politician, who have reasons to smile at these venues.
Irvine’s FY 2018-2019 budget adopted in June anticipates $26.5 million in Great Park revenues, about 5% of the booming city’s $504 million in total anticipated revenues. Its operating budget or general fund revenues are pegged at $200 million. It’s not discernable how much of the Great Park-generated funds are allocated to running the city.
About $6 million in Great Park revenues will come from program fees—tennis programs the city runs, for example.
A larger chunk in 2018-2019 will arrive from $10.2 million in special assessments or Mello-Roos taxes.
Homeowners in Great Park Neighborhoods, which include the newly-opened Cadence Park, Parasol Park, Pavilion Park and Beacon Park, as well as the adjacent Altair development, pay those park levies.
As for the sports complex, Phase 2 included:
• Seven baseball fields including Stadium Field
• Five softball fields, with a 500-seat stadium
• Six soccer fields
Star Power
Tustin Tiller and ex-Dodger Shawn Green, one of the last players to hit four home runs in a game, attended Sunday’s Opening Day ceremonies along with Pacifica Mariner and 2004 Olympic Gold-medal winning softball pitcher Amanda Freed.
