There is a flurry of activity happening around the Great Park, including more concrete plans of a long-awaited retail center.
Irvine‘s Planning Commission on Thursday, Nov. 16, unanimously approved a community commercial retail center on a roughly 11-acre site at the southern portion of the Great Park Neighborhoods. The retail center will be 1.5 miles from Pavilion Park, about 1.25 miles from Solis Park and Altair and a half-mile from Cadence Park.
It would also be adjacent to a proposed residential neighborhood of approximately 684 units located west of Bosque and south of Carmine.
Construction is targeted to start early next fall and wrap up in the first quarter of 2026.
The proposed retail center will include a grocery store, two drive-thru restaurants and other typical tenants like a dry cleaner, a nail salon and a dentist’s office. There will also be a variety of food options that include sit-down and fast-casual restaurants.
“What we’re building here in Irvine is our take on a traditional neighborhood center … but we’re trying to do it in a format that invites everyone to come, spend time and elevate the community,” said San Juan Capistrano-based developer Dan Almquist.
Developer Almquist, formerly known as Frontier Real Estate Investments, was tapped in August to plan and develop a food and retail center at the Great Park as part of the city’s $1 billion investment to establish the park as one of the world’s largest municipal parks.
Residents of Irvine’s Great Park Neighborhoods have waited for a retail center for years. Over the past decade, FivePoint, Great Park’s master developer, has extensively planned and marketed community retail sites at the Great Park Neighborhoods, according to the Great Park Task Force (15 appointed residents who represent the Great Park Neighborhoods), but none of them were brought to fruition.
Some of the residents bought into the older neighborhoods after they were promised retail, said Jackie…
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