The West Harbor development project, formerly called the San Pedro Public Market, will begin construction in 2021. Formerly the site of Ports O’Call, the new site promises to have restaurants and live entertainment. When exactly construction will start depends on the availability of restaurants that will be leasing property at the site, as well as how quickly the developers can secure the needed financing, said Alan Johnson, CEO of Jerico Development. Jerico Development and Ratkovich Co. are developing the project. Both are part of the LA Waterfront Alliance.
Alan Johnson, who spoke at the Nov. 16 meeting of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said he hopes that construction will be underway by mid-2021. Construction should take about a year to complete, followed by about six months of tenant improvement works.
Johnson said the name “San Pedro Public Market” could not be used because of a legal challenge from one of the tenants on the site of the project, probably the San Pedro Fish Market.
“Concerns of litigation regarding the intellectual infringement property grew,” Johnson said. “We didn’t want to get into a dispute regarding the name as we’re making a really substantial investment in marketing.”
Another reason was that the project’s initial plans included a 12,000 square foot public market space at the center, but there was not sufficient foot traffic for that.
“The pandemic was the final confirmation that small, crowded indoor spaces just weren’t a good idea at this time,” he said.
Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council board member Louis Dominguez said he was not happy that the new name did not have “San Pedro” in it.
“Every harbor in the United States has a west harbor, pretty much,” Dominguez said. “Even if you said ‘West Harbor at Los Angeles Port,’ I’d still like to see the San Pedro name somewhere in there.”
While it won’t have a public market, the project will have small food and beverage operations. They will be in a container kitchen, in a large outdoor area, filled with repurposed shipping containers, near a large stage and dance floor. Johnson went on to say it will have entertainment programs seven days a week.
The project will potentially have a tower that serves as a rotating observation deck and bar, but would need to go through an environmental review first.
Lauren Johnson, a representative of Jerico Development and Alan Johnson’s daughter, said the project will have playgrounds, dog parks, public art and recreation spaces. She said the completed project will be a district for shopping, playing, eating and waterside activities. It will have public art projects, and San Pedro community festivals, as well as concerts.
The developers are currently in discussion with several businesses for leasing at the site, including Gladstone’s and Albrights. Lauren Johnson said there will be a mix of cheap and expensive dining options.
“We really want there to be something for everybody and with the container kitchens you’ll have a big flexibility of options,” she said. “More variety, I think, than currently exists or had existed on site.”
There will be a few retail spaces as well, but the focus is on food and entertainment, Alan Johnson said. He said the project has 375,000 square feet, but the developers are only initially working on the first 60,000 square feet.
“There’s a lot of things we can do in the future in subsequent phases,” he said.
The project will also include a 6,200-seat outdoor amphitheater owned by Nederlander.
The amphitheater was one of the more controversial aspects of the design, as many community members at the meeting complained about the noise it would generate.
“You have the speakers from this huge Greek Theater amphitheater facing the U.S.S. Iowa, what will blow us out seven days a week,” said community member James Campeau.
Campeau said that all the speakers should be facing east, toward Terminal Island, as there isn’t anyone living there.
“You’re going to blast us out every night,” Campeau said. “Then we’re going to have to move because we’re not down there partying every night, where everybody from LA is hopefully coming here and spending money. But we live here, we’re a working community and we need to get some sleep.”
However, Alan Johnson said the 7-days-a-week entertainment would be in the container kits and would be small, akin to the Fish Market’s current live entertainment. He said the amphitheater would only be in operation about 50 times a year. In addition, the speakers will face southeast, and the noise the amphitheater will generate is part of the environmental review.
Board member Noel Gould said that line array frequencies can be aimed specifically at the audience, but not bass frequencies, which go in all directions.
“Even if there’s some reduction in sound, based on the directionality of the line array, and distance to the proximity of where people are living, bass is going to carry in all directions,” Gould said. “That’s going to need to be mitigated, not as much by the directions the sound system is pointing, but by the ultimate volume by which the sound system is allowed to play. That’s the only way there’s going to be any kind of significant mitigation that wouldn’t disturb residents.”
San Pedro resident John Smith said he was not impressed with the designs of the project’s buildings.
“They look like, to me, I hate to say it, but ugly cheap warehouses in industrial areas,” Smith said. “I think I could do better if I just went online and ordered a stock, steel building off the internet.”
Smith said that business would not be good at West Harbor after the novelty wore off, as he argued that customers would not want to sit in sheet metal buildings.
Gould said that the buildings’ designs were a missed opportunity because they did not reflect the maritime history of San Pedro.
“If those architectural designs were changed to be something that would truly reflect our history and our character, that would make it even more attractive, even if all of the amenities were the same as what you’re proposing,” Gould said.
Community member Mona Dallas Reddick asked if any trees that can provide shade will be added to the project, as the site can get very hot.
“I try to imagine myself going with my husband to sit there and enjoy something in the afternoon, and I don’t see where we’re going to be all that comfortable because there is not enough provision for shade right near the water,” Dallas Reddick said.
Dallas Reddick also expressed a desire for a quiet dining environment, as that was available at the site when it was the Ports O’Call.
Alan Johnson said that there were a lot of trees along the promenade, but that they would provide more shade in the coming years when they grow taller. In addition, the individual restaurants will provide shade for their outdoor dining.