San Pedro's closed courthouse site eyed for medium- to high-rise project

Is there yet another high-rise in San Pedro’s future?

Los Angeles County supervisors last week approved purchasing San Pedro’s vacant courthouse building for $5.2 million, opening the way for community ideas on how to use the 1.8-acre property.

The state owns more than 95 percent of the property, which the county intends to purchase for full ownership. It then will work with the community and developers to determine a new use.

The “highest and best use likely will be a mixed-use, medium- to high-rise project consisting of amenities for public gathering, as well as cultural, retail, restaurant and residential uses with a parking structure,” states a motion by county Supervisor Don Knabe, who represents the area.

The property, the motion states, should be geared to become “a focal point of civic activity.”

U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn, D-San Pedro, who is ruing for Knabe’s seat on the Board of Supervisors, already has asked the board to consider setting up a community advisory committee made up of business owners and local residents to help the county determine redevelopment plans.

“This project will provide a tremendous opportunity for redevelopment in San Pedro,” she wrote in her letter to county CEO Sachi A. Hamai.

“Supervisor Knabe and Councilman (Joe) Buscaino, along with the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and the San Pedro neighborhood councils would be a great team to help assemble a diverse board that would be apt to provide suggestions and feedback on this vital project.”

The supervisors approved the purchase Tuesday, noting that Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the bill needed to move the transaction forward by the end of this month.

The building at 505 S. Centre St. is considered a plumb site because of its strategic location at the easte edge of the historic downtown shopping district and just a few blocks away from Harbor Boulevard and the entrance to the waterfront. It could provide a needed transition piece in linking the two districts, both undergoing revitalization efforts.

Several ideas already have been floated, including restaurants, an entertainment venue, high-end bowling alley or other family recreation attraction, a school, movie theater, park, town plaza, parking structure or local history museum.

The courthouse closed in June 2014 along with nearly a dozen other county courthouses in a budget-slashing move. The San Pedro courthouse, which opened in 1969, brought hundreds of people into the downtown area. When it closed, area restaurants and shops noticed the downtu in business.

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The facility handled criminal, civil, small claims and traffic matters in its six courtrooms. Those cases were moved to Long Beach. Since closing, it has been used for court storage space.

The property consists of a two-story concrete-and-steel building and a metered, surface parking lot for 70 cars that has been used by local restaurants.