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A new indoor gym is coming to Irvine for residents to utilize additional courts for basketball, volleyball and badminton.
Irvine City Council members voted unanimously at their meeting last Tuesday to allocate about $100 million toward building the new facility within the Irvine Business Complex zone.
While the design isn’t finalized, staff said the indoor gym could feature varying types of courts in addition to a community room, lobby and office spaces.
Assistant City Manager Pete Carmichael told city council members that the design is flexible and additional community outreach is needed before the layout is finalized.
The proposal will return to the city council sometime in the next few months to discuss design and usage more in-depth.
Carmichael said the city currently relies on an agreement with local school districts for indoor gym usage, but the space doesn’t meet the demand for recreational sports in the city.
“As the council knows, the city has a very extensive, award-winning park portfolio,” Carmichael said at last Tuesday’s council meeting. “One notable missing piece in that portfolio is an indoor fieldhouse or gym facility.”
The council previously looked at constructing a gym, but it was estimated to cost around $170 million and take up to five years to build.
In this alternative proposal, the city is working with a seller who was already planning to build a warehouse at the lot at 17300 Red Hill Avenue. Instead, Carmichael said the seller is coordinating with the city to construct the gym to the city’s specifications.
The council approved $100 million for the construction of the base building — a shell for the new facility.
Funding for the project will come from a parks fund that is dedicated to park uses within the Irvine Business Complex and nearby neighborhoods.
It’s estimated the gym will open to the public in 2026.
“I’m glad we’re finally getting there,” Councilmember Tammy Kim said during the Aug. 13 meeting. “I think this is a really good solution to something that we’ve been talking about. We clearly need more facilities, and we have a lot of sports interest here.”
Residents Ask For Badminton Courts
A group of residents showed up at the meeting asking for badminton courts to be included in the new indoor gym.
Bob Gilmore, a badminton player and coach at the Irvine Chinese School, said his classes are overflowing with interest in badminton and they often have to travel outside the city to find courts.
“We have students on a waiting list,” Gilmore said. “I understand the city’s badminton program is also overflowing. Accessibility has and continues to be a challenge for everyone in badminton.”
Mayor Farrah Khan said badminton players have been asking for courts for years and it should be made a priority in this project.
“We don’t have anything for badminton, and we’ve got residents who continue showing up and asking for the bare minimum — a place to play,” Khan said.
“Yes, we’re going to have a multi-court gym with different aspects to it, but the priority right now is badminton because they have no place to go,” she added.
Other residents expressed concern that too much space will be taken up by badminton courts that don’t have any secondary uses.
Councilmember Larry Agran said he’s confident city staff will be able to find a design that balances all residents’ needs.
“All of the design questions and how we’re going to use it, all of that remains to be worked out,” he said. “I just have tremendous confidence in our staff if everybody comes to this in a fair way that it will be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction going ahead.”
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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