Irvine residents could see a new amphitheater coming to the Great Park in time for the 2024 concert season.
But it’s unclear just how much it’s going to cost taxpayers over the next three years before it’s replaced by a permanent amphitheater in the heart of the park.
City leaders have been debating the future of live music ever since the Irvine Meadows arena closed in 2016, leaving the city without a major venue for the first time since the 1980s.
Now, city leaders are looking to build and fund their own amphitheater on the Great Park’s north lawn until they finish the permanent amphitheater at the center of the park, which has a projected opening date for the 2027 concert season.
City Manager Oliver Chi said the preliminary review showed the facility “could break even” and that they wanted more direction from the city council before moving ahead.
“Over the course of three years you can earn enough money so it doesn’t end up costing anything,” Chi said. “The challenge though is how do we want to operate it.”
But the city staff report also noted there’s a chance the facility could cost the city as much as $3 million over the next three years if they don’t get enough acts to fill out the stage.
The Irvine City Council is expected to discuss the amphitheater at their 2 p.m. meeting Tuesday.
The city will likely bring in a contractor to run the venue, which could hold anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 people in the audience.
FivePoint Amphitheater Closes
Over the past few years, the temporary FivePoint Amphitheater was filling the city’s need for a live music venue on the edge of the park, with plans for it to eventually close once a permanent amphitheater was built.
But Live Nation, the promoter who ran the amphitheater, shut it down last month, citing new construction choking the roads, after city council members shot down their proposal to have the city fund almost all of the permanent amphitheater they would then run in the Great Park.
[Read: Irvine Kills Negotiations With Live Nation, Wants Amphitheater to Generate City Revenue]
“Our venue was always planned to be a temporary location to keep live music in Irvine until a new permanent venue could be developed with the city,” Live Nation representatives wrote on the venue’s Instagram page.
“If the City decides to build a new home for concerts one day, Live Nation will always stand ready to support.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.