I got it sorted and wanted to post the solution
$meta_query = array(
array(
'key' => 'event_end_date',
'value' => date('Ymd'),
'type' => 'DATE',
'compare' => '>='
)
);
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'events',
'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
'meta_key' => 'event_start_date',
'order' => 'ASC',
'posts_per_page' => '115',
'meta_query' => $meta_query
);