The city of Irvine is moving forward with plans to build a municipal gym for around $100 million.
On Tuesday, the City Council authorized the purchase of a seven-plus acre property on Red Hill Avenue near McGaw Avenue for $96.5 million. The purchase price includes the base construction of a one-story gym, but, eventually, the city will have to pay to finish the interior design, including plans for how the gym will be used.
“There’s a ton of flexibility as to how this gym facility can be designed,” Assistant City Manager Pete Carmichael said.
That flexibility became the subject of a contentious debate as councilmembers considered how to appropriate it.
More than two dozen residents addressed the council Tuesday, a majority of them asking for the gym to include more than a dozen badminton courts.
“The priority right now is badminton because they have no place to go,” Mayor Farrah Khan said.
“Priority needs to be given to badminton as the orphaned sport at this point, and we’re going to take care of that orphan,” echoed Councilmember Larry Agran.
But Khan disagreed with the rest of the council, including Agran, about how and when to make design decisions.
Khan wanted to authorize the purchase of the gym with a provision to ensure a certain number of badminton courts are built.
The others, while supporting badminton, rejected her motion in favor of the city staff’s recommendation, which was to first approve the real estate transaction and revisit the topic of how to design the gym at a later date.
“We’re going to have an amazing gymnasium within the next two years — maybe 18 months,” Agran said. “It’s like a miracle, so I don’t want to see this opportunity degenerate into a contentious kind of thing.”
This will be the city’s first dedicated indoor gym, available for year-round use. In the past it has made agreements with the local school districts to share facilities.
In 2023, the council previously directed city staff to pursue the development of a gym at Colonel Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park. But city staffers could not foresee construction of a facility there, even a smaller gym, coming in at a cost lower than $160 million, so they redirected their search toward acquiring the Red Hill property.
