The Port of Los Angeles has issued a Request for Qualifications for the redevelopment of Ports O’Call Village, located along the port’s main channel and adjacent to downtown San Pedro and the Harbor Freeway (I-110).

Photo courtesy of Port of Los Angeles

Ports O'Call Village

The RFQs are due Sept. 21. A developer will be chosen in late 2012, according to Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, with transactional approval by the Harbor Commission in 2013. Construction should start next year as well. Sanfield said the leases for the businesses at Ports O’Call are scheduled to end in late 2014.

According to the port, the development site includes 3,000 linear ft of water frontage and 375,000 sq ft of retail and tourism-related entitled uses. Sanfield says that because a large surface parking lot abuts the retail buildings, there is very little public space along the waterfront, which, he says, will be “returned to the public.”

The parcel was developed as Ports O’Call Village in the 1960s and was a popular regional destination for many years, but has seen business declining in recent times.

The redevelopment site is in the immediate vicinity of several public waterfront enhancements, according to the port, including a new downtown harbor and public plaza slated for completion in 2014. In recent years, the port has made extensive investments in promenades, marinas, parks and other public waterfront amenities aimed at providing greater public access to the waterfront. In addition to the multi-phase, $36-million Downtown Harbor water basin, promenade and public plaza under construction, other projects completed or under way include the $130-million Cabrillo Way Marina and public promenade, the $16.3-million Fanfare Fountain and Plaza, and the $23.4 million Harbor Boulevard Parkway promenade.