San Pedro Fish Market Outgrows Waterfront Redevelopment, Plans Own Flashy New Location

The San Pedro Fish Market, a staple of San Pedro’s old Ports O’ Call Village, was expected to take up residence in the new 42-acre West Harbor redevelopment that will replace the now-demolished village and remake the waterfront.

But Fish Market operators want more space than the West Harbor developers can offer and have struck out on their own to create a new permanent home, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The Fish Market has occupied its current spot for more than 40 years, but it is planning to build its new home at Berth 93, next to the Los Angeles World Cruise Center and a five-minute drive north of its present spot, documents from the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners show. 

The new space, if approved as planned, would be three stories tall with outdoor and indoor seating and would be designed to be an attraction on its own. The Fish Market’s new home would also feature bars and a Ferris wheel-like addition that could stand more than 10 stories tall.

The new complex would measure approximately 200K SF, about four times the market’s size now, and cost an estimated $140M to build, according to the Times. Restaurant designer Studio McCormack and attraction designer Garner Holt Productions are working on the market's future home.

The Fish Market’s owners and the city have a nonbinding agreement about the Fish Market moving into the spot, but the details are not public, the Times reported. The timeline for the project is anticipated to be years, as it will require not only an environmental review but also the approval of numerous state and local agencies whose jurisdiction includes the waterfront.  

The Fish Market will have to find a solution between the opening of its proposed new space and the end of this year, when it will need to move in order to make way for continued construction on West Harbor.

The West Harbor project, developed by The Ratkovich Co. and Jerico Development, is designed by a team that includes James Corner Field Operations and urban design and landscape architecture firm Studio One Eleven. West Harbor will have an amphitheater with over 6,000 seats, a brewery and beer garden, shops and restaurants. It is slated to open in 2022.