Major Mixed-Use, Entertainment District to Rise in Orange County
Anchored by the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., ocV!BE will encompass office buildings, a concert venue, retail, hotels and some 2,800 apartments.
A massive new mixed-use development and entertainment district, dubbed ocV!BE, has been announced for Anaheim, Calif. The $3 billion, 115-acre project is backed by the Samueli Family, owners of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, whose home venue, the Honda Center, will anchor the development.
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The district is intended to be sustainable and transit-oriented and is scheduled to open in 2024. Plans are for it to be fully completed in time for the 2028 Olympics, when the Honda Center will host indoor volleyball.
ocV!BE will be structured in part around three public plazas adjoining the Honda Center. A more than 3-acre urban park to the west will be surrounded by a new 6,000-capacity concert venue, a 68,000-square-foot food hall and a landscaped boulevard, the Paseo, featuring retail and dining opportunities. A southern-facing plaza will have elevated walkways providing access to dining options. The northern plaza will feature a collection of smaller club-style venues.
In addition to the plazas, ocV!BE will include 20 acres of urban parks, among them a 5-acre riverfront park for community gatherings and special events, as well as 3 miles of trails.
Other elements of the project include two new hotels totaling 650 guestrooms, a 325,000-square-foot office tower and 2,800 apartment units, 15 percent of which will be affordable housing. The apartments will be built in the northeast part of the overall site, along the Santa Ana River. The office tower and other new and existing office buildings will bring the district’s office space total to more than 825,000 square feet.
Transportation, within and outside
A network of pedestrian bridges and walkways will include a bridge over Katella Avenue, which divides roughly the southern one-third of the site from the remainder. In that southern end of ocV!BE is an existing transit center, ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center), which connects Metrolink and Amtrak trains with buses operated by the Orange County Transportation Authority, Anaheim Resort Transportation, Greyhound, Megabus and Flixbus. The development evidently will be enabled in large part by the conversion of acres of surface parking around the Honda Center into structured parking.
The development reportedly will create 3,300 permanent jobs and generate more than $400 million in ongoing annual economic benefit. Michael Schulman, managing director of the Samueli Family office, will be executive chairman of the newly created ocV!BE Sports & Entertainment LLC, which will manage the district’s development and operation.
A 2018 agreement between the City of Anaheim and Anaheim Ducks ownership extended the team’s commitment to Anaheim for up to an additional 50 years. This in turn led to a series of private acquisitions by ownership, leading to control of 115 acres surrounding the Honda Center.
