Council OKs design plan for $3.9 million amphitheater

(Top): A design graphic shows the proposed amphitheater structure at Central Park. (Bottom): The area as it looks today.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Menifee City Council action last week represented a big step in the years-long evolution of plans for the entertainment venue at Menifee’s Central Park.

The 4.5-acre park, located in the middle of Menifee Town Center, was originally planned to open in the fall of 2018 with a music and food festival featuring entertainers performing on a concrete stage covered by a temporary canopy. Construction of adjacent townhomes was not yet complete, and a pedestrian bridge across the Paloma Wash from the nearby Town Center Marketplace had been scratched from the project in a cost-cutting move.

That Grand Opening was postponed because of delays in completing the park’s turf and purchasing a shade structure for the stage. In a June 2018 City of Menifee Capital Improvement Projects report, the estimated cost of the amphitheater cover was $100,000. In August 2019, following a request by Menifee City Council members to create a “more robust structure”, an addendum to the project listed the budget as $500,000.

By that time, city events were being held at the park without the shade structure. The pedestrian bridge was still off the drawing board. A plan to name the site the Neil Winter Amphitheater – after Menifee’s mayor, who died in May 2018 – were still on hold.

Then last week, the City Council approved the conceptual design for an elaborate structure with a shell, separate arch covering, and sound and lighting fixtures with an estimated construction cost of $3.9 million. Using words such as “wow, iconic, signature piece and world-class”, city officials praised the work of a City ad hoc committee that spent months studying plans for what a presentation called “modern structure that integrates well with neighboring constructs located in Town Center while still maintaining a classic look that would add to the aesthetic variety already underway throughout the City.”

“As the expectations for the Central Park Amphitheater have grown from a simple shade cover to a sophisticated and premiere architectural centerpiece for the City, the costs have risen proportionately as well,” the presentation continued.

According to the presentation made to council members by City community services director Jonathan Nicks, the project is currently funded at $1,359,031, leaving a shortfall of $2,598,679. City staff proposed that the difference be made up from additional funding sources that have not yet been allocated to a project, including $2,015,729 from a Waste Management Reserve fund.

The original design contract was awarded to the IDS Group in October 2019. An ad hoc committee was formed to study the project, consisting of City Council members Lesa Sobek and Dean Deines and Parks, Recreation and Trails Commissioners Rick Croy and Anthony Amorelli.

“After several meetings, the Ad Hoc Committee decided to take the design in a different direction that would require the services of a new architecture/engineering firm,” according to Wednesday’s presentation made by Nicks. The current design team is TY Lin International, whose total estimated cost for design and construction of the amphitheater structure is $3,932,760.

 he project timeline calls for bids for the construction contract to be awarded in November, groundbreaking to take place in December and completion of the project in June 2022.

“You’ve definitely delivered the wow factor,” council member Matt Liesemeyer said, addressing the ad hoc committee members. “This will be iconic. It’s going to be huge; a great statement made by our city.”

“This is something Menifee can be proud of,” Deines said. “It will be a timeless structure.”

A preliminary graphic produced by TY Lin of the design preferred by ad hoc committee members includes the pedestrian bridge, which is back in the city’s Capital Improvement project list with a separate budget of $1.09 million. It would enable guests who park in the Town Center Marketplace and Countryside Marketplace to walk across a bridge spanning Paloma Wash to Central Park.

That could at least be a step in the right direction of solving a major problem – lack of parking. Central Park has only 39 parking spaces, street parking is difficult because of the adjacent housing, and other parking lots that could be used for shared parking are not even in the design stages.

“My only concern is the parking,” Liesemeyer said. “It’s going to be a nightmare. We need to figure out a trolley or another parking lot somewhere. That center is already packed, and the City Hall and theater aren’t even there yet.”

Mayor Bill Zimmerman expressed concern about the escalating cost of the project.

“It’s a beautiful project, but I still have sticker shock over the price,” Zimmerman said. “When we first started talking about the sail design, it was like $50,000. If there’s a way we can bring the cost down … I love the look and everything about it but the cost.”

Nicks' presentation included a comparison to three other amphitheater projects in the area, including Fontana ($4.2 million), Murrieta ($5.5 million) and Ontario ($7.2 million).

Nicks said that adjustments could be made in the final design anc onstruction plan. One of the possible adjustments is a line item of $73,590 for “environmental”.

“That’s a lot of money for an environmental study of that area,” Liesemeyer said. “Hasn’t that already been done?”

One element of a new environmental study might be the effects of sound from musical performances on the neighbors. The stage sits less than 50 yards from a huge housing development within Menifee Town Center.

In the end, Sobek made a motion to approve the conceptual design, Deines seconded it, and it was approved unanimously.

The City Council presentation referred to the site as the Central Park Amphitheater. Responding to a question from council member Bob Karwin, ad hoc committee member Sobek said the plan to dedicate the completed facility as the Neil Winter Amphitheater remains in effect.

 This design graphic shows the proximity of the amphitheater cover to the pedestrian bridge.