Orange County: Projects and Developments

[UserName01010]

From my blog at: http://orangecountydensedevelopment.blogspot.com/

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

The unnamed attraction will feature a completely new ride system and vehicles. Concept art of the new attraction released by Disney shows riders in classic cars zooming around an enclosed course free of a track or turntable.

Kris Theiler, vice president of Disney California Adventure Park, said the "new chapter in Luigi's story" will be full of four-wheeled fun.

Mice Chat reports that a new ride tentatively called Luigi's Festival of the Dance will feature a fleet of 1950s-era cars spinning and twisting in a choreographed musical number.

The WiFi-controlled vehicles, themed as members of Luigi's extended family visiting from the old country, would employ a trackless system similar to the Ratatouille dark ride at Disneyland Paris or Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/themep...205-story.html

[friedpez]

Hi all, I snapped a few more pics of 200 Spectrum Center under construction in Irvine. It looks like they're nearing the 18th floor or so.

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by OCW

Porto's will set up shop in the dead dirt plot that used to house the Golden State and Palm Inn motels. For those who belittle Buena Park and are unfamiliar with its surroundings, that's the fenced off area between Medieval Times and Pirate's Dinner Adventure!

The city has big expectations for the coup it scored including $15 million in annual sales. Porto's projects over 2 million visitors a year to its new location. Plans also include a late-night gelato and coffee shop. But forget about all that. The real excitement surrounds the potato balls, medianoche sandwiches, refugiados, and dulce de leche lattes to come!

How long before Porto's plants its flag in OC? The bakery is scheduled to open in the summer 2016. I know, I know...it can't come soon enough, but it's on its way!

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickafork...buena_park.php

Porto’s Bakery hot to build new restaurant in West Covina
http://www.sgvtribune.com/business/2...in-west-covina

[friedpez]

I snapped a shot of 200 Spectrum Center Drive yesterday. It looks like they may be topping out at the 20th floor. The building is now visible from many parts of Irvine and South County.

[dragonsky]

Shopping inside-out: Plans for Five Lagunas mall include outdoor spaces, apartments and new stores

The tired Laguna Hills Mall will get a few hundred new neighbors in a sweeping renovation that will turn the aging retail center inside-out and add 350 new apartments to the site.

Merlone Geier, the mall’s owner, has submitted to the city its initial plans for the site renovation. If the plans are approved, the remodel will begin next year and the new mall, renamed Five Lagunas, will reopen in 2017.

The mall will nearly double in size, according to the plans, mostly due to the addition of luxury apartments and a six-level parking structure.

“The addition of residential use provides vibrancy and a true walkable village,” said Scott McPherson, executive managing director of Merlone Geier, in an email.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/m...ew-retail.html

[UserName01010]

From: OC Register
Author: LAUREN WILLIAMS / STAFF WRITER
Date: Feb. 17, 2015
Link: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/b...-city-new.html

"...The Huntington Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to halt new development along Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue, saying the influx of big housing projects is not in keeping with the town’s beachy, suburban feel.

The council approved the measure 5-2, with council members Mike Posey and Barbara Delgleize opposing.

Councilman Erik Peterson proposed the moratorium on new development that is part of the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan, which was approved in March 2010 and paved the way for mixed-use development to revitalize 459 acres there.

The council asked City Attorney Michael Gates to prepare an ordinance halting new development by March 16...."

[UserName01010]

Great shot friedpez. It's crazy how fast it made it to the 20th floor.

[dragonsky]

Disneyland's Innoventions set to close March 31; will 'Star Wars' go in?

ANAHEIM – Disneyland’s Innoventions attraction is closing March 31, a Disneyland spokesman said Friday, and rumors are already flying that "Star Wars" attractions could end up there.

"As part of our continuing efforts to offer our guests new magic, we regularly make modifications and enhancements throughout the Disneyland Resort," said John McClintock, a Disneyland spokesman. "We have nothing further to announce at this time."

The Tomorrowland building that houses Innoventions, which has been at Disneyland since 1967, currently holds several Marvel attractions, including the Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man exhibits with their full-size uniforms, a meet-and-greet and a video-game area.

It is also home to Honda’s Asimo humanoid robot, and once featured the rotating Dream Home display on the first floor.

Some are speculating on social media that Disney will do a tie-in attraction with the "Tomorrowland" movie coming out in May. Others are saying Disney may expand the Marvel theme and create a Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Others say it could be the start of creating a long-awaited "Star Wars" Land. Star Tours, a simulator-ride based on the movie franchise, is nearby.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/d...ttraction.html

[dragonsky]

Knotts Berry Farm returns to its roots with Boysenberry Festival

It's no wonder Knotts Berry Farm is hosting a Boysenberry Festival this month. Namesake Walter Knott was the first farmer to grow the berry commercially and start selling them at his Buena Park stand in the 1930s.

As the story goes, Knott's business in Buena Park took off after he and his wife, Cordelia, started making preserves and jams, especially from the then newly created berry. When Knott was asked what they were, he called them boysenberries after Rudolph Boysen, the grower who created them.

Knott's still makes boysenberry preserves and will honor the berry during the festival from March 28 to April 12 at the theme park's Ghost Town.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/califo...310-story.html

[dragonsky]

A modest makeover of an anemic themed land will mark another step in the right direction as Disney California Adventure continues to correct a series of ills that have plagued the built-on-the-cheap park since opening day.

Walt Disney Imagineering will transform a test pilot’s airstrip in a barren desert known as Condor Flats into a lush mountain airfield that will become part of the adjacent Grizzly Peak themed land.

The new Grizzly Peak Airfield will feature a California High Sierras theme with the addition of pine trees, a ranger lookout tower and national parks signage. The buildings in the area will get a forest green paint job to allow them to better blend in with the wooded surroundings.

Condor Flats has always been one of the weakest themed areas of the park with only a single attraction, a restaurant, a shop and a restroom. The makeover will cohesively mesh the Grizzly River Run and Redwood Creek Challenge Trail attractions in Grizzly Peak with Condor Flat’s Soarin’ Over California, one of the park’s marquee rides.

The former Taste Pilot’s Grill is scheduled to reopen March 20 as Smokejumpers Grill, a quick-service restaurant serving burgers and sandwiches. The restaurant’s theme pays tribute to firefighters who battle remote wildfires in California forests.

The grill’s new name also makes a nod to the Pixar animated film “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” which features a team of anthropomorphic bulldozers known as the Smokejumpers that parachute into wooded terrain to battle wildfires.

The nearby Fly 'N Buy shop and adjacent restroom facility are expected to get similar face-lifts.

Soarin’ Over California will reopen later in the spring with an updated domed screen and video projection system. The changes are widely believed to be in preparation for a new film expected to feature an international storyline.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/themep...312-story.html

[dragonsky]

Disney chief rejects idea of third Anaheim park but confirms expansion

"We have plans at Disneyland for an expansion that we have not announced but those plans at the present do not include a third gate," he told shareholders in San Francisco during the Burbank company's annual meeting.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...313-story.html

[UserName01010]

I have updated my blog providing updates on projects going on in Anaheim's Platinum Triangle.

Link: http://orangecountydensedevelopment....n-anaheim.html

Thanks!

[UserName01010]

An Update on Stalled Projects: Garden Grove Galleria, Brookhurst Triangle, One Broadway Plaza

From my blog: http://orangecountydensedevelopment....ts-garden.html

[dragonsky]

Nearly $150 million is being spent by developers on the new hotels, adding more than 1,500 rooms to the city’s resort district by the end of 2015, said Jay Burress, president and CEO of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

By the end of the year, roughly 22,000 hotel rooms will be available within the resort district, more than half of which will be within a mile of the Convention Center.

The Convention Center itself will embark in April on a $180 million expansion that will push the city-owned facility’s rentable space to 1.8million square feet.

Along with an anticipated increase in large-scale trade shows and conventions, tourism is also rebounding in Anaheim and the rest of Orange County, which reported 46million visitors in 2014, Burress said.

“There’s a need for quality hotel rooms, because demand keeps increasing, Disney keeps hitting record attendance numbers and the Convention Center is expanding,” said Lucas Fiamengo, general manager of the SpringHill Suites, which opened with 172 rooms in October as one of the latest additions to the Marriott hotel chain.

Landowner James Edmondson will open the Courtyard Waterpark Hotel on July 16, 50 years to the day that he opened a Howard Johnson hotel next door.

The lodge, about 750 feet away from the Matterhorn in Disneyland, will have a 20,000-square-foot water park with six slides and other features.

To keep up with the new competition, the Hilton Anaheim, Anaheim Marriott and Sheraton Park Hotel are spending a combined $53million this year to spruce up their rooms, lobby areas, restaurants and amenities, said the convention bureau.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/h...onvention.html

[dragonsky]

Great Wolf water park-hotel springing to life in Garden Grove, on schedule to open in 2016
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/g...park-wolf.html

[dragonsky]

At OCMA: a history of attempting to build -- but at what cost?

For three decades, the Orange County Museum of Art, which began life as the Newport Harbor Art Museum, has been trying to build a bigger space so that it might have space to show its collection on a permanent basis and not have to close down for installation between shows. This ambition to grow is what was behind the recent layoffs of five staffers, including chief curator Dan Cameron.

As the museum’s board president Craig Wells discussed with me on Tuesday, OCMA must break ground on a new building at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa by June 2017 or lose title to the donated land. The downsizing was done with the intention of slimming the museum’s budgets in preparation for the construction at Segerstrom of a new, bigger OCMA designed by Morphosis’ Thom Mayne.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...07-column.html
https://www.facebook.com/notes/archi...on/87453746900

[UserName01010]

Some more additional quotes from article:

"The developer indicated in filings that it would like to begin construction next year and could finish up work by 2020."

"The 28-story condo tower and the 26-story hotel proposed for LTG Platinum Center would become Anaheim's two tallest buildings, while the condo building would eclipse the under-construction 200 Spectrum Center office tower in Irvine as Orange County's tallest building."

Note: Above is a screen shot of the article page from which it was found from the following website: http://www.hopscape.com/wp-content/u..._03%20OCBJ.pdf

Much thanks to ocptguy for bringing attention about this proposed project to me via my blog at http://orangecountydensedevelopment....-triangle.html

[friedpez]

I managed to swing by the Irvine Spectrum yesterday and took a photo of 200 Spectrum Center. The building looks topped-out and some glass is already going up around the base.

[UserName01010]

"Instead, now the applicant is proposing a modification to the overall project which would keep the already in place 238 hotel rooms and, in addition, build a 23 story residential tower (266 feet tall) that could have up to 100 condominium units. The overall count of units, hotel and proposed residential tower, would total to 338 units. Just like the prior proposed project, the modified proposed project also would require the demolition of the hotel parking garage. The residential tower would include an attached parking garage consisting of 0.5 level underground parking and 6 levels above the ground totaling to 6.5 levels of parking. This would total to 422 parking spaces."



Source: My Blog at: http://orangecountydensedevelopment....-in-costa.html