Irvine leaders celebrated this week breaking ground on the 45-acre Cultural Terrace West development, which will be the next large section of the city’s Great Park to be completed.
A community event promoted the attractions that will relocate to the new terrace near Marine Way and Skyhawk within the next several years.
The public examines the Great Park Framework Plan during an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at Hanger 244 in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Ballet dancers Chloe Zhao, left, and Phoebe Lee, both 11, perform during an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at Hanger 244 in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
General Michael Aguilar, left, of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum and Irvine vice mayor and Great Park vice chair Larry Agran speaks during an open house inside Hanger 244 at the Great Park in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Matthew Chao, 9, of Irvine checks out the inside of a U.S. Marine AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter during an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at Hanger 244 in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. The Marine helicopter will part of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum planned for the Great Park. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Vivienne Follman, left, sings the National Anthem during an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at Hanger 244 in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Project manager for the Cultural Terrace April Robles, left, and landscape designer Cloe Cousineau, center, answers questions about different projects planned for the Great Park during an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at Hanger 244 in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Great Park board members and partners throw a shovel of dirt as part of the Cultural Terrace Groundbreaking event in at the Great Park in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Visitors attending a Great Park open house view a U.S. Marine AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter outside Hanger 244 at the Great Park in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. The Marine helicopter will part of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum planned for the Great Park. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The public views the retail plans for the Great Park during an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at Hanger 244 in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Standing for a group picture, from left, General Michael Aguilar, of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum, Ellen Pais, executive director of Pretend City of Irvine Charlie Zhang co-founder of the Orange County Music & Dance, Tammy Kim, Irvine councilmember and Great Park board member, Larry Agran, Irvine vice mayor and Great Park vice chair, Doug Freeman, executive chair and CEO of Orange County Music & Dance, and Yulan Chung, chief executive officer of the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center, during an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at Hanger 244 in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Guests attending an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park sample bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes during the open house event inside Hanger 244 at the Great Park in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Irvine residents and others gather inside Hanger 244 at the Great Park for an open house for the public to view the plans for the next development phase of the Great Park and meet the developers, architects, and planers behind it during an event at in Irvine on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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The Cultural Terrace will eventually be home to the Pretend City Children’s Museum, a new facility for Orange County Music and Dance, the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum and a first-of-its-kind in Orange County Asian American history museum.
In total, the terrace will feature 200,000 square feet of museum, educational and performing arts space. These venues are slated to open in three to five years, according to planning documents.
“This location all around us is going to be the epicenter of the cultural life of Orange County,” said Doug Freeman, executive chair and CEO of Orange County Music and Dance, a community arts school already based in Irvine that boasts more than 400 students.
The new, larger facility planned at the Great Park will offer additional additional space for classes, rehearsals and performing.
Councilmember Larry Agran, who has been involved in the development of the Great Park since its inception more than two decades ago, called the groundbreaking a milestone.
“We’re now well along to realizing the dream of this wonderful, great metropolitan park,” Agran said.
The Great Park is among the largest metropolitan parks in the United States. With more than 1,300 total acres, it is larger than San Diego’s Balboa Park and New York City’s Central Park.
