After much ado, work has begun to renovate and expand the Irvine Animal Care Center on Oak Canyon.
For years, residents and city officials sought upgrades for the decades-old shelter, but planning took far longer than expected and construction delayed.
On Monday, city officials broke ground on the new project. They expect upgrades to be completed by the summer of 2026. The shelter will remain open throughout construction.
A soon-to-be adoptable puppy provides the perfect photo opp duing Irvine Animal Care Center’s groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. The shelter will remain open while it is expanded and rennovated with upgraded kennels, air-conditioned dog buildings, activity yards, and a larger administration building. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A rendering of what the outside of the rennovated and expanded Irvine Animal Care Center will look like when completed in the summer of 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Carbon looks out from his kennel at the Irvine Animal Care Center on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 during a ceremony celebrating the shelter’s two-year expansion and rennovation project. It will remain open so animals like Carbon can be adopted. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Irvine Animal Care Center specialist, Vivian Stein, shows off Moscato during a groundbreaking celebration on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 for the shelter’s two-year expansion and rennovation project. The gentle 2-year-old French bulldog mix was found wandering in Irvine and may soon be up for adoption at the shelter. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Moscato gets some attention during Irvine Animal Care Center’s groundbreaking celebration on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. The shelter will remain open during the two-year, $25 million expansion and rennovation project. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Officials celebrate the rennovation and expansion of the Irvine Animal Care Center with resident puppies during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. From left: councilmember Mike Carroll, Mayor Farrah Khan, and Vice Mayor Larry Agran. The upgrades should finish in 2026 and the shelter will remain open while work is completed. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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A soon-to-be adoptable puppy provides the perfect photo opp duing Irvine Animal Care Center’s groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. The shelter will remain open while it is expanded and rennovated with upgraded kennels, air-conditioned dog buildings, activity yards, and a larger administration building. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The upgraded facility will offer a modern clinic, fewer but larger kennels, air-conditioning in dog buildings, yards for animal care and support and expanded administration and multi-purpose areas.
In 2018, city leaders decided on a plan to demolish the shelter and replace it with a new $25.9 million facility, saying at the time the cost difference between upgrading the existing center and putting in new construction was negligible while building offered more flexibility.
But a year later they changed direction and decided to pursue renovations. The project is still budgeted at $25 million, a figure approved by the City Council last summer.
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