Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli, whose Samueli Foundation will serve as the major contributor to the Irvine Ice Foundation, were among those who spoke to an audience of dignitaries and local residents at the event.
"Building this from the ground up is a dream come true," Henry said. "The Great Park worked out as a perfect partner for us because of the availability of the land and the openness of the city council to engage us in such a massive project. So we're really thankful for them working so diligently with us to make this a reality."
Located near the Great Park's Palm Court and adjacent to the Festival Site parking area, the Community Ice Facility will be home to a number of activities in addition to hockey, including public recreational skating, competitive and recreational figure skating, curling, broomball and additional community events.
"There are very few rinks in South County, so we needed it here." Susan Samueli said. "With the great Ducks staff and at H&S, it was only bound to happen because everybody was dreaming and having great vision of what we can do with hockey in Orange County. So we're thrilled."
Tweet from @AnaheimDucks: Puck is down and construction is underway! pic.twitter.com/DN1CgTuuwA
The facility will also give the ever-growing Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League (now up to 48 teams) an appropriate location to host highly attended games as well as highly anticipated figure skating competitions and other events that require additional seating. In addition, the $100 million plus facility will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certified as part of the NHL Green initiative.
"This is a great day for the city," said Irvine mayor Donald Wagner. "We're going to have four sheets of ice, one of the largest facilities in the country, and we're going to have the opportunity for our local kids to come play hockey, figure skate and train with the best. This is a first-class operation, a thoroughly professional operation, and it's going to be a community icon. I'm excited."