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A nationally-known firm that worked on Redondo Beach’s King Harbor was tapped on Thursday, July 28, by the Los Angeles harbor commission to come up with a plan on how to better connect San Pedro’s new West Harbor waterfront with the area’s downtown and dining districts along with other visitor points of interest.
West Harbor is expected to begin construction later this summer with plans for an early 2024 grand opening, inspiring a desire to try to connect other points of interest to the new attraction in the port town.
The prime consultant hired was SWA Group, Inc., a firm that specializes in urban design and planning, landscape architecture and site assessment and implementation. Several sub groups will work with SWA to provide expertise in areas such as transportation and marine engineering.
The contract for $498,000 will run for one year.
The request for a plan to connect visitor attractions came from all three of the town’s neighborhood councils as well as the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce.
The firm will be asked to produce a blueprint on how best to get folks from one place to another — the waterfront, downtown, and outlying points of interest such as the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, AltaSea, and the Point Fermin Lighthouse.
The plan is expected to include way-finder signage, people-mover style transportation and possibly some physical connectors between interest points.
It could also include such enhancements as water taxis, more pedestrian-friendly streets, public art and open spaces and additional crosswalks.
Elise Swanson, president and CEO of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, said the proposal came out of extensive outreach and workshops in 2019 that looked at future priorities.
And Diana Nave, chairwoman of the planning committee for the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said such a plan topped most of the ideas discussed by that body when asked for recommendations on how to best use money provided through the port’s Public Access Investment Plan.
“In Northwest we’re ready and eager to work with port staff and the consultants on the development of this plan,” Nave said.
Envisioned is a document that will provide long-term ideas that will guide future improvements and will result in “a network of well-connected multi-use spaces accessible to the public.”
Public transit, bike-scooter-pedestrian connections, water taxi and recreational boat tie-ins are all possible elements.
SWA was selected in a Request for Proposals process conducted by the port that drew 11 applicants. Five of the top firms were interviewed, said Mike Galvin, director of Waterfront and Commercial Real Estate for the port, with SWA scoring the highest.
SWA, founded in 1957 as Sasaki Walker & Associates, is now the nation’s largest planning and landscape design firm, specializing in community outreach and collaboration, according to the port’s board report.
Their past projects have included a framework plan enhancing public amenities at King Harbor in Redondo Beach; reworking and retrofitting port sites for better public accessibility at Port Houston; and improving connectivity between Jacksonville’s Riverfront districts in Florida.
“We believed, based on their experience and the long-term work they’ve done, that SWA was the best firm,” Galvin said, stressing also the company’s reputation for collaboration and community outreach.
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