Horton Plaza Park Grand Opens Downtown With Sloan's Ice Cream

Horton Plaza Park has its grand opening today adjacent to Westfield Horton Plaza. The 53,000-square-foot public urban park underwent a multimillion dollar restoration and renovation and will be managed by Westfield, who will be organizing community functions in a new light sculpture-ringed amphitheater which holds more than 5,000 people and will be available to rent for private events. Featuring a live entertainment series, public art and oversized games, Horton Plaza Park also includes the freshly-restored Irving Gill Fountain and several food and beverage pavilions, which each have a trellised patio and seating.

Mega-giant Starbucks will operate one of the pavilions while Sloan's Ice Cream will slot into another for its second San Diego store, the first non-traditional location for the chain, which was founded in South Florida and has a shop at Westfied UTC. Sloan's 347-square-foot, 26-seat kiosk in the park will have a walk-up window and feature its signature pink and neon green design and 'Willy Wonka-esque' assortment of candy, baked goods and 20 creative ice cream flavors, including Coffee and Donuts and Mom's Apple Pie, ready to be scooped into fresh waffle cones.

A third pavilion, which was originally supposed to house waffle sandwich shop Bruxie, is reportedly unoccupied.