City of Irvine sells naming rights to public park for $5.7M

10-year deal with University of California-Irvine health system covers 1,300-acre Great Park

The park and UCI Health CEO Chad T. Lefteris (Facebook via Great Park, UCI Health)
The park and UCI Health CEO Chad T. Lefteris (Facebook via Great Park, UCI Health)

The City of Irvine has cut a $5.7 million naming rights deal with UCI Health for the 1,300-acre Great Park that sits squarely amid the ongoing residential development on a former U.S. Marine Corps base.

The deal will see the UCI Health name on Great Park signs and logos, according to the Orange County Register. The name is short for the University of California-Irvine Medical Center.

Irvine’s Great Park is a work in progress that is already home to a slew of recreational facilities, including numerous soccer and baseball fields and an arts complex.

It was carved out of the former El Toro air base, which as a whole is being redeveloped. In 2019, the City of Hope hospital system announced plans for a $1 billion hospital and research facility at a 73-acre commercial component of the former airbase.

Around 200 acres of the Great Park have been developed by FivePoint LLC, which has entitlement for a residential and commercial build-out on another 688 additional acres.

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There will be other branding opportunities under the deal, which positions UCI Health to host seminars and assist with city-run events such as blood drives, health screenings, and sports tournaments.

UCI will pay $500,000 in the first year of the deal and add 3 percent each year after that. The deal includes the option for two five-year extensions after the 10-year term is up.

If extended through 20 years, the partnership is expected to bring in around $13.4 million for the city. 10 percent of that will go to the Superlative Group, a company that Irvine hired to find other sponsors for the park.

Irvine city leaders were ready to sign the agreement in September, but some city council members wanted the Superlative Group to fish for other potential partners. Two organizations expressed interest, but ultimately did not submit proposals by an October 22 deadline.

[OC Register] — Dennis Lynch