VANS BREAKS GROUND ON MULTI-FACETED, $165M SKATE PARK IN CA

          Vans Inc. has broken ground on an "ambitious new retail
     and entertainment center" in Orange, CA, that touts the
     "nation's largest and most technically advanced skate park,"
     according to Patrice Apodaca of the L.A. TIMES.  The $165M
     center, called the Block, is being built on the site of the
     former city shopping center owned by Mills Corp.  The 46,000-
     square-foot skating facility, due to open in late November,
     will have 34-foot ceilings and 6,000 square feet of outdoor
     space.  It will also "feature an 80-foot vertical ramp, a
     20,000-square-foot street course and two cement skate 'pools'
     built into the ground."  Vans hopes the park will be the
     "first in a chain of such facilities" (L.A. TIMES, 5/8).