Paradise Park, Date Palm Plaza and the Rebuild of The Market Place on Jamboree

In about eleven months, The Market Place on Jamboree Road opened two new outdoor plazas. Each one has its own name, its own landmarks and its own kind of event. Paradise Park opened in September 2025 next to the Regal Edwards theater. Date Palm Plaza followed in August 2026, near Panda Express. If you live in Northpark and still think of The Market Place as a parking lot with stores around it, you're picturing a layout that Irvine Company has been replacing piece by piece.

The two plazas run on different hours. This summer, Paradise Park's events ran in the early evening. Date Palm Plaza's ran in the middle of the day. New restaurants have opened around both, so the time of day you go now changes what you'll find.

The Plazas Were Always Part of the Design

The Market Place opened in 1988. Irvine Company's master-plan page credits architect Ricardo Legorreta with the design: a distinctive color palette, 100-foot-high light towers, geometric shapes, fountains and broad plazas. The same page counts 3,000 trees on the property, including olives, date palms and Australian willows, across 1.6 million square feet of landscaping watered with reclaimed water.

The new Date Palm Plaza takes its name from trees that have been on the property all along. The recent work builds on the outdoor design the center already had and organizes that space for events.

Irvine Company describes Paradise Park as the result of "several years of community input and master planning." It says the company talked with residents and shoppers about how to create new gathering spaces at the center.

Paradise Park Became the Evening Spot

Paradise Park is a lawn and plaza of more than half an acre. It sits next to the Regal Edwards Market Place theater, the fountain and a cluster of restaurants. The opening celebration was Saturday, September 27, 2025, from 1 to 6 p.m. in the courtyard near Regal Edwards.

Three restaurants opened along the lawn. Mendocino Farms promoted a September 15, 2025 grand opening. BLK Dot Coffee, at 13788 Jamboree Road, held its grand opening on September 21, 2025. Handel's Homemade Ice Cream is at 13786 Jamboree Road. By October 2, 2025, the Irvine Standard reported all three open, with BLK Dot between the other two.

The lawn also sits next to housing. Irvine Company built two apartment communities at the center, Colonnade at The Market Place and Meridian at The Market Place. On a first visit, a visitor told the Irvine Standard that residents there would be able to walk to everything.

This summer, Paradise Park hosted the Summer Music Series, acoustic sets from 5 to 7 p.m.: Adam Lasher Trio on July 18, The Kalama Duo on July 25, Ashley Felton Band on August 15 and Zach Churchill Duo on August 22. A separate series, Summer Sunsets, offered lawn games and live music on two Tuesdays, July 21 and August 18, also from 5 to 7 p.m. The Irvine Standard's listing didn't say which plaza hosted it. Both series ran in the early evening.

Irvine Company's page also says a full-service restaurant "will open at Paradise Park soon." No name has been announced in anything we found.

Date Palm Plaza Took the Midday Slot

The second plaza ran on a different schedule. The Market Place calls Date Palm Plaza "our newest outdoor space" and places it near Panda Express. Another center listing places it near Wingstop and Yogurtland. Those three businesses are landmarks. The center hasn't published a list of tenants on the plaza itself.

The plaza hosted events before its formal opening. The Summer Fun Fest, with games, crafts and music, took place at Date Palm Plaza from noon to 2 p.m. on August 1. Irvine Company Retail posted "Date Palm Plaza Opens at The Market Place" on August 12, 2026. The opening celebration came on Saturday, August 29, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with live music, free tastings and giveaways. The next day, a BMW ride-and-drive event filled the plaza from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Here's how this summer's published events split between the two plazas.

Neither plaza has fall 2026 events listed on the center's calendar so far. The center's seasonal guide runs September 17 through November 1. At The Market Place it lists Spirit Halloween, and it sends artisan markets, silent disco and trick-or-treating to other Irvine Company centers.

The Restaurants Opening Around the Plazas

Several restaurants opened over the same stretch, and they went in near the open space. Shake Shack opened at 13656 Jamboree Road on August 7, 2025, about seven weeks before Paradise Park's opening celebration. Irvine Company lists Shake Shack and Corner Bakery as nearby openings that came with the Paradise Park work.

On El Camino Real, Palette Dim Sum took over the former Wokcano space at 3015 El Camino Real. The Register's March 2025 report expected it to open in April. The Los Angeles Times later reported that it actually arrived in December, and it was still in "soft opening" mode with a limited menu of about a dozen dim sum standards as of February 4, 2026. The Times reviewer called the traditional har gau "excellent, compact and sheer." The review also called out the dan tat, a custard tart. Palette's other locations are in the Bay Area and Las Vegas. Its parent company also runs Koi Palace, which opened in Daly City in 1996.

A few doors away, Veggie Grill by Next Level at 2955 El Camino Real was reported open on March 4, 2026. Its current promotions include a free scoop of organic strawberry ice cream with each kids' meal on Sundays, running September 3 through December 31, 2026. A fall menu runs through October 31.

Taken together, the changes follow a pattern. Each new plaza opened alongside new places to eat, and the event schedule shifted from evenings at Paradise Park to midday at Date Palm Plaza.

Northpark Plaza Is Changing More Slowly

Northpark Plaza, at 3901 to 3997 Irvine Boulevard, is closer to home and has changed more slowly. The center's own press archive lists only one opening item, H Mart in 2023.

There are still new names. In May 2025, the Irvine Standard included Moo-Moo Hot Pot among Irvine's new hot-pot restaurants. Its Northpark location is at 3967 Irvine Blvd. The same paper reported Bluberry Social open at Northpark Plaza in October 2025.

Getting to Jamboree This Week and Through Late 2026

Work on the I-5 Improvement Project crosses the routes between Northpark and The Market Place this fall. Here's what OCTA's construction page shows as of late September 2026:

1. Jamboree Road at I-5. Bridge girder work will close Jamboree completely at the freeway, alternating between the two sides of the road. The window runs as early as Thursday, September 24 through Friday, October 2. Work hours are 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. by day and 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. at night. That means closures are possible through the end of this week.
2. Peters Canyon Hiking and Riding Trail, Bryan Avenue to Harvard Avenue/Walnut Avenue. Drainage demolition fully closed both directions on September 22 and 23. Drilling work for the trail bridge at I-5 is scheduled to run from as early as September 24 into mid-October.
3. Peters Canyon Trail at I-5. Intermittent full closures for moving equipment may continue through late 2026. OC Parks posted the same warning in an alert dated July 25, 2026.

The trail closures also affect The Market Place's own neighbors. Irvine Company lists bike and trail access to Lower Peters Canyon among the features of the new apartments. OCTA calls its schedule "anticipated" and points people to its detour maps and Waze, so check the OCTA construction page before you head out.

New gathering spaces like Paradise Park and Date Palm Plaza add to what's within reach of Northpark, and that's part of how a home here gets valued. If you'd like to know what your Northpark home is worth today, Felix Hung can walk you through recent Northpark sales. Get Your Free Home Valuation.