An “Olympic Village” at Great Park?
Like pieces of a puzzle, elements of the western portion of the Great Park are coming together. The Great Park Ice facility is already a venue for Team USA and U.S. Figure Skating. USA Water Polo headquarters and a multi-pool facility are to be built next door. A sports field house is planned adjacent to the water polo facility.
This Bisnow article dated March 14, 2019 provides background. Will the field house be a home to national-level volleyball? Note at the end of the article: “‘We’re also working with USA Volleyball,’ Haddad said.”
Great Park has many soccer fields, a soccer stadium, a baseball stadium, 25 tennis courts, sand volleyball courts, several flex fields, and other sports facilities. Is Great Park becoming a “Great Sports Park”?
4 Comments
Susan Sayre
November 23, 2019 at 4:55 amThe vision for the Great Park that was promised the Orange County voters was a park that would provide recreational and cultural venues that would be affordable for everyone and which could be used and enjoyed by all. These Team USA Olympic Ice Skating and Water Polo venue and competitive sports venues are notable but are they consistent with the Great Park Venues that Orange County residents voted for?
Scott Hansen
November 23, 2019 at 8:10 amThis is interesting to me. On the one hand, Southern California excels at sports like water polo and volleyball. Many of the national championship teams have come from SoCal. Ice sports perhaps less so, although figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen and the Anaheim Ducks hockey team have all succeeded at the highest level. The many community sports facilities at Great Park seem fitting to me – our daughter had soccer tournaments in many cities in SoCal. Now with Great Park soccer, Irvine teams can hold large tournaments in Irvine. So I can see how multiple sports facilities at Great Park fit well with Irvine and with Southern California. But on the other hand, not everyone is into sports. Plans for the Cultural Terrace remain a mystery, and the nature of the public park portion is unclear. I urge the Great Park Board to work with internationally-acclaimed park designer(s) to develop a world-class Cultural Terrace and public park.
Susan Sayre
November 23, 2019 at 10:10 amScott,
I really love your suggestion. The Great Park can become nationally, if not internationally, known for its athletic venues as well as for being a wonderful playground for the general public. It would be worth the cost to work with internationally-acclaimed park designers to create a park designed for the enjoyment of the general public. I envision natural history and art museums, sculpture gardens, a botanical garden that represents a number of the world’s ecological systems, bicycle trails for hiking and biking with picnic tables and benches for rest stops and maybe even a lake with sail boats and canoes for rent at an affordable price.
Jeanne Baran
November 23, 2019 at 10:18 amWe had an acclaimed Park Designer.
In May 2018 the Great Park Board did hire a firm with over 40 years of experience in the development of large-scale cultural, civic and open space master plans. The firm was in the process of putting together a business plan, financial model and recommendations for a tenant mix in the Cultural Terrace.
However, the park designers were let go and the contract was terminated by the City around January 2019, and the work was brought in-house to the GP Ex. Director/ City Managers office. Mr. Russo is now responsible for overseeing the Cultural Terrace master plan and the continued development and operation of the Great Park. The themes and uses for the Cultural Terrace remain a mystery as does the location for a permanent amphitheater. Good news – The City has money set-aside from Fivepoint earmarked for Cultural Terrace planning purposes.
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