Features
Great Park Breaks Ground
The city of Irvine, Calif., broke ground Oct. 7 on The Great Park project at the former El Toro Marine base site with a celebration as a bulldozer began demolition of an old runway.
Photo: AP Photo / The Orange County Register, Leonard Ortiz
City of Irvine, Calif., officials and The Great Park dignitaries watch a video on what the park will look like just before a bulldozer starts a ceremonial groundbreaking on the former El Toro Marine base site Oct. 7.
The project is to include 688 acres of park in five years, and someday may include an outdoor concert venue along with a planned sports village with tennis courts, baseball diamonds and soccer fields, according to the Orange County Register.
The Great Park project has been beset with criticism of costs at Irvine City Council meetings.
A forensic audit to be released in coming weeks is expected to show how $200 million has been spend to develop less than one-sixth of the Great Park since 2006, according to the paper.