At the Wheel: Developer Bob Sonnenblick at Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro.

New Course

Developers vie to tum Ports 0′ Call into seaside star

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By JAMES RUFUS KOREN Staff Reporter

To the thousands who flock to Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro every weekend, the waterfront stretch of shops and restaurants is a great place for fresh fish and cold beer. But developers who want to tear it down and rebuild on the site say it could be much more- a shopping, dining and entertainment complex with high-end retailers; a fancy ethnic food market; and even a roller coaster and Ferris wheel.

To the thousands who flock to Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro every weekend, the waterfront stretch of shops and restaurants is a great place for fresh fish and cold beer. But developers who want to tear it down and rebuild on the site say it could be much more- a shopping, dining and entertainment complex with high-end retailers; a fancy ethnic food market; and even a roller coaster and Ferris wheel.

For developers, it’s a chance to build on 30 acres of oceanfront property.
“There’s only so much waterfront property available to be developed,” said Bob Sonnenblick, a principal at Sonnenblick Development LLC in Pacific Palisades one of the developers proposing to redo Ports O’Call. “Anytime you can get 30 acres on the water with a huge amount of frontage, you can’t go too far wrong.” Ports O’Call was built 50 years ago and hasn’t been upgraded much since. Now it’s seen by developers, port officials and even many local business leaders as a run-down relic of the 1960s. Ports O’Call is busy on weekends, but doesn’t draw many customers during the week. Much of its retail and restaurant space is vacant. While developers are optimistic that the right kind of development can bring more visitors and money to San Pedro, some of the factors that have led to the village’s troubles might not be so easily fixed.
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