San Pedro’s 42-acre waterfront development won’t have its grand opening until 2025.
But get ready for an unexpected summer preview.
Plans are fast coming together by developers to prepare the northern end of the 42-acre West Harbor parcel as a summer-long, active space.
The North Park section will be open for pop-up retail, refreshments, outdoor movies, harbor tours, craft fairs, boating events, live entertainment, and a rotating mix of food vendors featuring some of downtown San Pedro’s restaurants.
On May 13, the day before Mothers’ Day, there will be an exhibit and sale sponsored by Makers Market in San Pedro on the site. And, on June 17, San Pedro Pride events will be held there.
Inspired by the some 2,000 people who turned out at the West Harbor development’s groundbreaking on Nov. 12, developers have been brainstorming. They wanted to activate the northernmost parcel that’s not immediately needed for development and figure out how to quickly transform it for summer public access.
The northern section of the finished promenade, called North Park, already has been open for walkers. But, it remains undeveloped for now, offering an open space that developers have decided to put to public use as construction to the south continues.
It’s a concept that builds on the success of the groundbreaking, said Valerie James, vice president of development for West Harbor. The idea is to create programming, provide refreshments and entertainment all while adopting the rotating kiosk model for businesses — on the adjacent area where folks can also just relax on lawn space at the waterfront.
It’s possible some of those smaller businesses could also later be brought into one of the remaining lease spaces.
Creating an area where small retailers can set up shop temporarily and rotate in and out also helps bring in income for the developers. In turn, those funds can go into ensuring the area is maintained as construction continues.
The open section…
Read the full article here