Anaheim Approves $4B Mixed-Use Entertainment Hub
The ocV!BE to include concert hall, retail, apartments, offices--and a hockey arena.
Anaheim has just set the bar on a new level for the “experiential” mixed-use downtown of the near-future: its City Council has approved a $4B sports and entertainment district to be known as ocV!BE.
The 95-acre district, to be anchored by the existing Honda Center (home of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks franchise), will include a concert hall, apartments, retailers, office space and dozens of restaurants.
In addition to the 5,700-seat concert hall, the new entertainment district will feature a 50K SF market hall, 20 acres of public space and two hotels totaling 650 rooms.
About 1.1M SF of office space is planned at ocV!BE, along with 1,500 apartment units, of which 15% will be designated affordable.
The site of the entertainment district also is home to the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), a rail, bus, taxi transit hub built next to the hockey arena.
The Samueli Family, which owns the Ducks franchise and manages the Honda Center, is leading the development team for the entertainment district. The developers submitted the original plans for ocV!BE to the City of Anaheim in 2020.
The project’s first phase is scheduled to be completed in 2024. The entire entertainment district is slated to be finished prior to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when the Honda Center will host the indoor volleyball competition.
Anaheim’s new entertainment center is modeled on The District Detroit, Motown’s sports and entertainment hub boasting “the densest concentration of the four major sports teams in any urban core.”
The teams are Detroit’s Tigers, Lions, Red Wings and Pistons, and The District Detroit is a thriving downtown entertainment hub attached to their venues.
Anchored by Comerica Park and the historic Fox Theatre, The District Detroit is home to Little Caesars Arena, the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University and the new Little Caesars world headquarters campus expansion. Little Caesars Arena features four shopping and dining establishments: Mike’s Pizza Bar, Sports & Social Detroit, District Market and Team Store—as well as office space for Google, 313 Presents and the Detroit Red Wings.
New businesses coming to The District Detroit include Tin Roof Detroit, The M Den, Frita Batidos, Rush Bowls, Sahara Restaurant and Grill, Union Joints, Detroit Medical Center and Warner Norcross & Judd. The District Detroit has brought estimated $2.1 billion in total economic impact to the Detroit Metro.