San Pedro Town Square and Promenade Project on Track for July Opening

SAN PEDRO— Come summer, visitors to the San Pedro waterfront will be able to stroll along the main channel in the Los Angeles harbor and catch a sunset with the Port of Los Angeles as a backdrop from a new town square on 6th Street.

The Port of Los Angeles announced on March 2 that the San Pedro Town Square and Promenade project is on track and on budget to be completed by the end of July. The port is funding the $36 million development, which includes a 30-foot-wide promenade, seating, restrooms, landscaping, hardscaping, signage, architectural finishes, handrails, and lighting. The promenade will stretch roughly 1 mile along the Main Channel connecting points of interest, including the new town square at 6th Street and Harbor Boulevard.

“I think the community’s really starting to see things happen here, for a long time we were talking about plans, we were working out leases,” said Mike Galvin, the director of waterfront and commercial real estate at the Port of Los Angeles, in a March 2 construction update video. “…Now you can see brick and mortar, hardscape coming in, a real promenade that opens up this entire site to the waterfront.”

The project is part of a series of waterfront development and community enhancement projects across 400 acres of Port of Los Angeles property in the harbor communities of San Pedro and Wilmington.

“I’m excited that we’re so close to the completion of one of its pivotal projects,” said Los Angeles Harbor Commissioner Anthony Pirozzi, Jr. in a March 2 released statement. “I can’t wait to see families coming down here with their kids and grandkids enjoying the waterfront and making new memories for decades to come.”

The promenade will also connect to the anchor project of the LA Waterfront redevelopment, West Harbor, formerly known as the San Pedro Public Market. West Harbor announced the new name and branding in October 2020.

“The name West Harbor better reflects the gravity of what is really an entire new district coming to the LA Waterfront,” said Alan Johnson, CEO of Jerico Development, in an Oct. 7, 2020, released statement.

West Harbor is a collaboration between two Southern California-

based businesses, The Ratkovich Company, Jerico Development, and the Port of Los Angeles.

West Harbor is planned to open to the public in 2022 with restaurants, shopping, markets, office space, and an open-air amphitheater. Restaurants that have signed letters of intent include Southern California icon Gladstone’s; a new concept from Greg Morena, owner of San Pedro’s Pappy’s Seafood, and The Albright, the longest-running restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier; and a new restaurant and market from chef and restaurateur Robert Bell, who owns Mama Terano in Rolling Hills Estates and the former Chez Melange in Redondo Beach. The project team is also reported to be in near-final, exclusive negotiations with Nederlander Concerts for a 6,200-seat waterfront amphitheater; Harbor Breeze Cruises for waterside attractions, harbor cruises, water taxis, brewery, beer garden, and more.

Construction on a third piece of the redevelopment, the Wilmington Waterfront Promenade project, continues to take shape in Wilmington. That development is slated for completion in 2023. The $70.8 million project includes the construction of a community park adjacent to the Banning’s Landing Community Center, a waterfront promenade, public pier, public dock for commercial vessels, public restrooms with a green roof, parking lots, a playground, public seating, bike racks, drinking fountains and a 2,500 square-foot pad for commercial development.

“After many years of hard work, we can really see this project starting to come together here today,” said Los Angeles Harbor Commissioner Lucia Moreno-Linares in an April 7 released statement. “It’s exciting.”