By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
During a private meeting on Oct. 20, port staff told Ports O’ Call merchants and restaurateurs that Ports O’ Call Waterfront Dining, Crusty Crab and Acapulco restaurants will be evicted February 2018.
When asked for comment, Ports O’ Call owner Jayme Wilson released a statement saying: “Spirit Cruises and the Ports O’ Call Restaurant have not received any eviction notices. We have been, since 2012 and continue to be, in negotiations with the developers and the port.”
Community activist Jesse Marquez, who has taken on the cause of the smaller Ports O’ Call merchants who were given eviction notices earlier this month, warns of blowback with this latest eviction.
“It is really disheartening to see the dream for the San Pedro waterfront redevelopment fall into disarray due to Port of Los Angeles back-room deals with unqualified developers. If the project had followed standard business practices of first releasing a request for proposals and been an open, legitimate and transparent process in selecting a qualified developer, the project would not be in the mess it is now.
“The port is currently evicting all the Ports O’ Call Village shops and now is evicting most of the major restaurants. If the project gets built in three years the port and developer have made enemies of everyone and the project could end up with no tenants.”
The port is busy preparing Ports O’ Call Village to be delivered to the LA Waterfront Alliance as per the lease agreement, including:
- A pedestrian promenade along the main channel
- Realignment of the public right of way and construction of the new 7th Street/Harbor Blvd. and Sampson Way intersection
- Town square improvements
- Demolition of Ports O’ Call made suitable for construction
- And, perhaps most importantly, the property be delivered free and clear of any leases or occupancy rights.
It’s unclear if the developer has put together the financing or found another anchor tenant to move quickly forward with the redevelopment.
Though the LA Waterfront Alliance was quick to release a statement explaining that the port’s moves were in accordance with the signed lease agreement, it was slow in responding to Random Lengths News request for a statement regarding whether any additional anchor tenants have been found to complement the San Pedro Fish Market.
However, at a meeting to discuss relocating tenants and providing job training for displaced employees, Marquez who was at the meeting reported that Ports O’Call tenants had asked Eric and Alan Johnson of Jerico Development (one-half of the LA Waterfront Alliance) four questions:
- Whether any new major anchor tenants have been identified.
- Whether any major new tenants have been identified
- If the final project drawings can be viewed
- And whether any building permits have been filed.
The response to all four questions was no.
The pending demolition of Ports O’ Call Village, with the exception of the San Pedro Fish Market, is reminiscent of when Beacon Street was leveled with the promise that it would be replaced with new commercial and residential developments. The developments envisioned then, never materialized and in at least one case took more than 30 years to be replaced.
In the meantime, the small merchants who were first evicted from Ports O’ Call Village are pushing ahead with their $24 million lawsuit.
The suit, filed Oct. 2, charges the port with multiple violations, ranging from violation of the California Environmental Quality Act process rules to discrimination against minority-owned businesses.
The port’s response, at least unofficially, is that regardless of whatever assurances port staff offered in public or private meetings, if it wasn’t in their lease with small businesses or in the lease the port signed with the LA Waterfront Alliance, it doesn’t exist.
The port’s attorneys filed a summary judgment against the Ports O’ Call merchants on Oct. 24. The hearings are set for Nov. 5, 6, 8 and 14. If the judge hearing the case rules in the port’s favor, the evictions will be effective immediately.