Gaffey Street makeover begins to take shape in San Pedro

An exit park honoring Los Angeles’ sister cities, a remodeled fast-food hangout now frequented by vagrants and a new drive-through Starbucks replacing a neighborhood bar — it’s all on the drawing boards for San Pedro’s Gaffey Street in the next couple of years.

The plans, while not directly part of the mayor’s Great Streets Initiative for the corridor, will be designed to blend with the vision of remaking Gaffey into a more pedestrian-friendly landscaped entrance into town.

Within the next six to 12 months, residents will see new signage and other improvements, with more substantial changes on medians begiing construction in 2017, said David Roberts, economic development director for Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino.

Discussions also continue on creating a business improvement district along Gaffey, he said.

But, separately, several properties will see new businesses and upgrades in the coming few years, he said, including:

• San Pedro Exit Park: The vacant parcel next to the northbound 110 Freeway on-ramp on Gaffey will begin its transformation in the third quarter of this year, Roberts said. Included will be landscaping, lighting, and the flags of Los Angeles’ 25 sister cities illuminated at night. Construction should take four to six months.

• A new Starbucks: Still only in the negotiating stage, a drive-through is plaed at Ninth and Gaffey to replace TC’s, a coer bar. The Starbucks at Fifth and Gaffey would continue to operate, Roberts said.

• Jack-in-the-Box: A remodel of the fast-food restaurant at 600 S. Gaffey St. has received approvals from the city’s Zoning Administration. Design plans are expected to be approved by late summer or early fall, with construction starting late this year, Roberts said. The Chinese restaurant on the east end of the property at Sixth and Gaffey would be removed so that Jack-in-the-Box could expand to include more landscaping, lighting and outdoor seating. It is hoped that the improvements will solve what’s become a long-standing issue with homeless encampments and panhandling on the property.

Gaffey was one of six streets named by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 for his Great Streets Initiative, a proposal to remake some of the city’s most heavily used corridors. Expected to cost some $7 million and take possibly decades to complete, the makeover of Gaffey will include new landscaping, mini medians, bulb-outs at coers, outdoor seating, pedestrian-level street lighting, decorative pavers, tree canopies and improved bus and transit shelters.

Traffic lanes will not be reduced and there are no plans for bike lanes.

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