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Aug 21, 2023

Construction kicks into high gear for future home of San Diego Sockers, potential hub of North County sports

The steel superstructure has been completed and construction is kicking into high gear for the Frontwave Arena, an indoor sports complex some say will be the “crown jewel” of Oceanside’s El Corazon

The steel superstructure has been completed and construction is kicking into high gear for the Frontwave Arena, an indoor sports complex some say will be the “crown jewel” of Oceanside’s El Corazon Park.

Builders held a “topping out” ceremony Aug. 4 and signed a metal rafter placed 47 feet above the main concourse and almost 80 feet above the floor of the bowl where the San Diego Sockers professional soccer team will play its home games.

“We hope to have it enclosed by October to avoid the rains,” said Dan Moreno, a senior superintendent for Level 10 Construction. “There’s a lot of detail work now ... the superstructure was the easy part.”

Frontwave Arena is going up on an unfinished street to be called Hero Way near Rancho Del Oro Road in Oceanside’s 465-acre El Corazon Park. It’s close to the city’s William A. Wagner Aquatic Center, the El Corazon Senior Center, new apartment buildings and a strip of commercial development being built at the corner of Rancho Del Oro and Oceanside Boulevard.

The arena will share a 25-acre parking lot with the SoCal Sports Complex, a weekend soccer tournament venue with 22 fields that gets about 1.5 million visitors a year. Developers of the arena also will build a 650-space parking lot to share with an adjacent community park still in the planning stages.

About 70 workers were busy at the construction site Friday. That is expected to increase to 150 employees over the next few weeks. Along with roofing, interiors and concrete work, the jobs still to be done include the installation of water lines, sewer lines, electricity and other utilities.

Construction should be finished by next June with a grand opening expected late next summer, Moreno said. The Sockers have one more season, which is December through April, at Pechanga Arena in San Diego before they move to their new home in Oceanside.

The team plays 24 home games each season, said Josh Elias, the arena’s chief operating officer. Frontwave Arena also will host an additional 35 sports events annually such as basketball, volleyball and mixed martial arts.

In addition to sports, the arena will host 30 to 50 concerts or similar entertainment events annually. The building is designed to accommodate groups of various sizes from 2,000 to 7,500 guests, Elias said.

“We can accommodate many different tiers of shows here, which is important because many acts are passing between Los Angeles and San Diego,” he said.

The facilities also can be leased out for special community events and private parties, he said.

An outdoor plaza with a fountain will be located at the main entrance on the northwest side of the building nearest the city’s swim center. The plaza will be open seven days a week, with access to food and beverage vendors and an outdoor stage.

“Our elevations are great here,” Elias said. “You can see the ocean on a clear day. This will be the crown jewel of the amphitheater.”

Inside the main entrance, a premium deck and lounge will overlook the bowl and its indoor playing field. Located around the inner concourse will be 16 suites each seating eight to 40 people, two VIP decks each seating 50 people, and two main bars.

“We are going to spend a lot of time bringing in local craft food and beverages,” he said. “Our goal is to make this the hub of North County indoor sports.”

Construction will cost about $85 million and is funded by a partnership of three private groups led by Sudberry Properties, the family-run San Diego company that is the lead developer of the residential and commercial properties at El Corazon.

Sudberry launched construction in August 2022 on a 268-apartment complex called The Luma at El Corazon being built on 12 acres across the street from the arena and the senior center. The first of those apartments is expected to be occupied by November of this year.

Earlier this year, the city approved plans and permits for a 51-acre commercial site at El Corazon, also to be built by Sudberry along Oceanside Boulevard near the Rancho Del Oro intersection. The primary tenant there will be an Ionis Pharmaceuticals research and development facility expected to employ 200 people.

The 251,600-square-foot Ionis building will include a lab, offices, manufacturing and warehouse facilities, and it will be the largest of three R&D buildings in the development. No tenants have been announced for the other two buildings, which will be 182,000 and 64,300 square feet.

The commercial site also will include retail stores, drive-thru restaurants, a gas station, a car wash and a mini-market.

Oceanside received the El Corazon property in 1994 from the U.S. Silica company, which mined sand there for a variety of industrial uses.

The Oceanside City Council approved a specific plan for the property in 2009 that designates 212 acres for parks and recreation, 164 acres for native habitat and 34 acres for civic services.

Space was included for residential and commercial uses, including two hotels not yet built, to provide tax revenue for the development and maintenance of the parks and other public facilities.