In-N-Out opened at 7900 Great Park Blvd on Friday, September 4, 2026. It's the first tenant at The Canopy at Great Park. The City's September schedules show the order in which the rest of the area will fill in. Coffee, ice cream, a grocery store and running shoes come first, over the next year or so. The library, the permanent amphitheater and the children's museum have all moved to 2028 or later. If you live in Altair, the Great Park you'll use over the next two years is mostly a shopping center plus event weekends.
Distance is why this matters. In 2023 the OC Register put The Canopy site about 1.25 miles from Altair. The center sits at the corner of Bosque and Great Park Boulevard. That makes it a short drive from Altair's gated entry off Irvine Boulevard.
What's Due Before the End of 2026
Almquist Development + Investment describes The Canopy as a 12-acre center with more than 90,000 square feet of retail, dining and services. The City's September 8 update says the first phase should open in late 2026.
On the day In-N-Out opened, the center named five businesses that, according to the Orange County Business Journal, "will begin opening this year":
- McConnell's Fine Ice Creams
- Palmetto Superfoods
- Baba's Hot Chicken
- Brooks Running
- La Jolla Cosmetic
"This is just the beginning, with many more openings ahead," Almquist founder and CEO Dan Almquist said in a statement. Notice the wording, though. These businesses will "begin opening" this year. None of them has announced a firm date yet, so expect them to open one at a time over the coming months.
The Longer Tenant List Has No Dates Yet
Back in March, Great Park Neighborhoods announced a bigger first group of tenants. The food side included Chicha San Chen, H&H Bagels, JJANG Yakiniku and Social House, Osen Urban Table, Philz Coffee, Shootz and The Taco Stand. The retail and wellness side included Free People Movement, Rylee + Cru, Solestage, Sol Studio and Sunfeel. None of them has a public opening date as of the end of September.
The anchor tenant is further out. T&T Supermarket's 34,000-square-foot store will be the chain's first in Orange County, and the Register's March coverage expected it to open by early 2027. So the store most likely to change your weekly routine is still months away.
Hangar 10 is a restored World War II hangar being turned into space for shops and food vendors. The City's September construction report says work should start in December and finish by summer 2027. The same report schedules site work for the second phase, which includes four retail buildings, through winter 2027/28. The City's storymap gives a different date and says the rest of The Canopy should open in mid-2027. The two City sources disagree, so a completion date anywhere from mid-2027 into 2028 is a fair working range.
The Landmarks Have Moved Further Out
Most of the big civic projects have slipped by years. Here's where each one stands on the City's current maps and reports.
| Project | Current status |
|---|---|
| Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum | Opening spring 2027 |
| Aviator Hall, the indoor event center in Building 369 | Renovation work expected to start fall 2026 |
| Pretend City children's museum | Groundbreaking late 2026, opening mid-2028 |
| Permanent 10,000-capacity amphitheater | Construction planned for 2028–2030 |
| Great Park library | 2032 at the earliest, once funding is in place |
| Botanic Garden | Planned, no date |
| 20-court pickleball complex | Planned, no date |
The Pretend City change happened recently. A City storymap dated August 4 still said the museum would open in 2026. Pretend City's own FAQ, updated August 12, says it will now break ground in late 2026 and open in mid-2028. The Cultural Terrace also lost a planned tenant. In February, Orange County Music & Dance pulled out, citing costs, delays and the difficulty of working out of temporary space.
The museum's date shifts depending on which City page you read. The September 9 development update says spring 2027, while the August 4 storymap said 2028. Even so, the aviation museum and Aviator Hall are first in line among the civic projects. Everything after them is several years away.
The Walk and the Drive Change This Winter
Some of the work closest to Altair's side of the park is small and arriving soon. The Bosque Enhancement between Cadence and Benchmark adds landscaping and a new playground. The City's September report says the original work is done, additional planting and irrigation come next, and the project should finish in winter 2026/27. Along the Cadence edge, Perimeter Park's pedestrian paths and open space are also scheduled for winter 2026/27, with rough grading expected to begin this fall.
The planned Bosque Bridge will give walkers and cyclists a grade-separated crossing from the Bosque Trail to The Canopy and Hangar 10. The City estimates about 12 months of construction but hasn't set an opening date. Until the bridge is built, most people will probably still drive to The Canopy.
If you drive Marine Way, mark November 7–9, 2026. The City has scheduled a 53-hour rail-work window for the undercrossing project. The full project is due in April 2027, and the Great Park-side Marine Way connection in summer 2027.
Inside the gates, nothing changes. Altair's greenbelt follows the Agua Chinon wash and links The Club and The Terrace by pedestrian bridge. The Club, the 7,100-square-foot clubhouse, has tennis and bocce courts. Most of the new things to do are outside the gates.
October at the Great Park
Great Park Live is the temporary venue that's already open. Since the permanent amphitheater isn't scheduled for construction until 2028–2030, Great Park Live will host the concerts and festivals for the next few years. Here's what's on the calendar this month:
- Mehregan Festival, October 3–4. The Persian Festival of Love and Kindness, at Great Park Live.
- Irvine Global Village Festival, Saturday, October 10, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The festival marks its 25th anniversary in Irvine with this year's edition at the Great Park. The City says admission and general parking are free.
- Mega Night Market, October 17–18, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. both days. Asian food, music and cultural programming at Great Park Live.
- Rise Against, October 23. With Alkaline Trio and Teen Mortgage. All ages, doors at 5:30 p.m.
Great Park Live's FAQ says every general-admission guest needs a ticket, apart from its exception for children under four.
What the August Festival Showed About Big Event Days
Daisy Chain Fields on August 29 was the largest test so far of the park's event infrastructure. Voice of OC's preview reported about 45,000 expected attendees, $95 on-site parking and $50 shuttles. The City closed parts of Marine Way, Skyhawk and Bosque. Residents could get Dash Passes to pass through barricades, but the passes didn't allow parking on resident-access-only streets. The Register's local guide gave the same advice and warned about sound checks and setup in the days before the show.
Getting in went smoothly, though the Register noted Sand Canyon was busier than usual. Getting out didn't. Voice of OC reported attendees stuck for hours in parking lots and waiting for shuttles and rideshares. The City told Voice of OC it is talking with producer C3 Presents about bringing the festival back next year, but nothing is settled. The Canopy got caught up in it too. Festivalgoers parked near the new In-N-Out, found the drive-thru wasn't open yet, and complained online. It opened six days later.
For the October events, the main thing to watch on festival days is the late-evening exit.
If you're wondering how The Canopy, T&T and the slower civic schedule affect what your Altair home is worth today versus in 2028, I'm glad to go through it with you. I've watched every Irvine village go through this kind of build-out, and I'll tell you plainly what the timelines mean for your plans. Chad Pape. Let's Connect.
