OC Fair & Event Center Main Mall to Receive $3.6 Million Makeover
Main Mall Project – a Central Element of the 2003 Master Plan – Will Feature an Architectural Theme Celebrating the History of the Former Santa Ana Army Air Base
Costa Mesa, Calif. (June 29, 2011) – The pedestrian mall at the OC Fair & Event Center will undergo a $3.6 million renovation, transforming the thoroughfare into a scenic promenade architecturally themed to celebrate the era when the fairgrounds contributed to the war effort as the Santa Ana Army Air Base.
The OC Fair & Event Center Board of Directors unanimously approved the project at its June 23, 2011 board meeting.
Measuring more than a football field in length, the mall is the heart of the OC Fair & Event Center and is home to The Hangar, exhibit buildings, and Fair food vendors.
“We’re very excited about the project,” said David Ellis, Chairman of the 32nd District Agricultural Association Board of Directors. “We’re going to transform a 100-yard by 60-yard slab of asphalt into a themed experience celebrating the aviation heritage of the fairgrounds and their contributions to the nation’s victory in World War II. It will welcome our visitors to the campus with a wonderfully visual experience.”
A central element of the 2003 OC Fair & Event Center Master Plan, the mall’s makeover will include $1.6 million in decorative streetscaping, lighting and themed architectural structures including a pedestrian promenade fashioned from colored stonework and a steel archway spanning the mall’s width. The project’s $2 million landscaping element will utilize trees, shrubs and hedges to create borders and accents to the promenade.
“Think of Main Street USA at Disneyland,” said Dr. Steven Beazley, CEO of the OC Fair & Event Center. “It’s a brilliant design that creates an experience that is nostalgic, memorable and fun. We want the ’aviation promenade‘ to be a similar experience, a place where our visitors will enjoy a sentimental journey celebrating the time when the Event Center was the Santa Ana Army Airbase.”
The Santa Ana Army Airbase occupied nearly 1,400 acres of land – including the OC Fair & Event Center and the Orange Coast College campus – from 1941 to 1946. The base housed basic training for nearly 150,000 troops in the Army Air Forces.
The $3.6 million project is being funded exclusively with revenues generated from the operation of the OC Fair & Event Center. Construction is scheduled to begin in October of this year, with completion anticipated in March 2012.
“We’ve scheduled project construction so that there are minimal, if any, business disruptions,” said Ellis.
Click here to view a PDF of the renderings.
The OC Fair & Event Center is located off the 405 and 55 freeways at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa. For more information, please visit ocfair.com, become a fan on Facebook.com/OCFair or follow us at Twitter.com/ocfair.