Orange County is getting a downtown — that’s the message officials behind OCVibe in Anaheim conveyed at a splashy event Wednesday night unveiling new details about the 100-acre development.
Henry Samueli, the billionaire owner of the Ducks whose company is behind the $4 billion development, said OC has always lacked a downtown for nightlife. That will change, he said, when OCVibe builds a new community around the Honda Center that combines sports and entertainment venues with restaurants, retail, residences and hotels.
“Where do you go when you want to have fun?” Samueli asked. “That’s what we are trying to build here.”
OCVibe, once built out in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle, will have four performance venues (including the Honda Center), 28 restaurants and six bars, two hotels, green space and around 2,000 apartment homes.
A reincarnation of the Golden Bear, a legendary music venue in Huntington Beach that hosted local bands and scores of music greats, was a surprise announcement Wednesday night.
“We’ve all been talking about the future of OCVibe,” Samueli said leading up to the announcement the Golden Bear would relaunch as part of the entertainment district now under construction. “We want OCVibe to bring back the memories and the history of music in Orange County.”
The largest of the new performance venues is a 5,700-person concert hall. The Golden Bear will be a smaller theater for around 350 to 500 guests, expected to open toward the end of 2027, said Bill Dwight, senior director of programming.
The first phase of construction is expected to be ready by the end of 2026. That’ll build the two new parking garages near the 57 Freeway needed to support OCVibe along with a market hall that will have food stalls showcasing cuisines from around the world. It’ll take at least until 2029 to have the rest of the development built.
Roads and parking garages were put on the perimeter to ensure that the rest of the property remains walkable, “something that we just don’t do” normally in OC, Samueli said.
OCVibe CEO Bill Foltz announced too on Wednesday that A Restaurant, from the River Jetty Restaurant Group, will be the first of the five restaurants opening in 2026.
Golden Bear returns
The Golden Bear closed in 1986 after more than 60 years on Pacific Coast Highway; in its heyday, it hosted the likes of Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Steve Martin, Van Halen, Tom Waits and Robin Williams, who Cindy Wasserman, daughter of former owner Carole Babiracki-Kirby, remembers watching as a young girl trying out a new show in the intimate nightclub.
“Very famous people would come and perform as a warm-up for their big act they were doing somewhere else,” she said, standing with other family members and former employees of the nightclub. Several of the group said how excited they are to see the Golden Bear’s legacy being honored.
Chris Epting, a local author and historian, called the Golden Bear the “most iconic music venue, in my opinion, here in Southern California.
“For decades in Huntington Beach, the Golden Bear hosted every artist imaginable,” he said announcing its relaunch at OCVibe’s preview party.
“As a journalist, I have spoken to a lot of artists over the years. Whether I was talking to locals like Steve Martin and Jackson Browne or far-off stars like Dave Mason and Peter Gabriel, they all have stories about the Golden Bear.”
He introduced Kirby who talked about the “launchpad” the nightclub was for many careers and “a sanctuary for fans.”
Dwight said that is exactly what OCVibe wants the new Golden Bear to do – host known acts, but also give a spotlight to up-and-coming local acts like its predecessor.
Those bands can then come back and play the mid-range theater that is planned, and then the concert hall and ultimately hit the Honda Center stage as big stars, he said. “We want this venue to be the first stepping stone in a lot of bands’ careers.”
“The spirit of OCVibe is about community and celebrating the culture and arts and I can’t think of a better place for the Golden Bear to have its second art,” Kirby said.
She then produced a giant ring of the keys to the former venue, handing them to Susan Samueli in a passing-of-the-torch gesture.
“We are really going to bring back your vision of what the Golden Bear should be,” Henry Samueli said. “We are going to work with you really closely and make that a special place, I promise you.”
New Anaheim tower
Anaheim Real Estate Partners, the Samueli company behind OCVibe, on Monday got approval from the city’s Planning Commission to have the option to tear down the Arena Corporate Center offices north of the Honda Center and build new apartments and possibly office space, including a 240-foot tower, in its place. Previously homes were going to be built around it; now there would be more park space.
There would be three options for what could replace the Arena Corporate Center, all with around 2,000 apartment homes combined with office space.
- Option 1: 2,250 apartments, office and retail space
- Option 2: 2,175 apartments, retail space and approximately 240-foot mixed-use office tower with homes
- Option 3: 1,960 apartments, retail space and an approximately 240-foot office tower.
Matthew Hicks, vice president of public affairs for OCVibe, said they haven’t decided which option is best. In late October the City Council will consider the updated plans for approval.
The project is seeking no subsidies from the city and the development agreement, which includes up to 340 affordable apartments, totals more than $300 million in public benefits, according to the city.
The project as a whole already has a strong endorsement from Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, who said Wednesday the city is fortunate to have OCVibe.
“OCVibe is real,” Aitken said. “I know what that means for Anaheim; I know what that means for our Anaheim families.”
