The Irvine City Council voted Feb. 21 to continue forward with a 14,000-seat amphitheater for its Great Park rather than a scaled-down version.
The decision was finalized in a 3–2 vote in a special meeting after the city briefly considered an 8,000 city-controlled seat venue, when its partner, concert promoter Live Nation, requested it provide an additional $20 million outlay for the project.
The city last September approved a $130 million agreement with Live Nation for a 14,000-seat amphitheater, where the city would pay $110 million and Live Nation, $20 million. The new venue would replace the temporary FivePoint Amphitheater currently at the location.
But the possibility of smaller venue came into play earlier this month after Irvine City Manager Oliver Chi indicated Live Nation wanted to reconfigure the deal in a variety of ways and requested the additional funding. In response, city staff presented the idea of the scaled-down version, according to Chi, which was estimated at a cost between $80 million and $90 million….