Walk down 6th Street on a Monday, and you’ll see two downtowns side by side.
One is the downtown we’ve been promised for years. New apartment buildings are filling up, and newcomers are discovering what longtime San Pedrans already know: you can live, work, and play here, next to the water.
The other is still waiting. Scissor gates pulled across empty storefronts. Lunch spots dark until dinner. Restaurants closed on Mondays. And at the Topaz building, our only Class A office tower, floor after floor of move-in-ready space sits quiet.
There’s a real question about when Downtown San Pedro will come back, and how.
FROM WEST HARBOR INTO DOWNTOWN
West Harbor, the $500 million, 42-acre development on the old Ports O’ Call Village site, began opening in phases this summer, with 300,000 square feet of dining, retail, and entertainment. Its amphitheater is a 6,200-seat waterfront venue operated by Nederlander Concerts, hosting about 100 paid events a year. That’s 100 nights when thousands of people need dinner before the show. 241 cruise ships brought a record 1.6 million passengers in 2025, worth more than $303 million locally, and that’ll increase with the new Outer Harbor Cruise terminal by 2036.
But waterfront demand doesn’t automatically translate into customers on 6th Street. That requires a plan.
FILL THE TOPAZ, FEED THE RESTAURANTS
A healthy downtown runs on two shifts: people who live there and people who work there. We’re building the first. We’re missing the second.
The Topaz at 222 W. 6th Street has roughly 100,000 square feet of office space available, much of it turnkey. Fill it with 400 workers, and you get a morning coffee line, a real lunch rush, and the weekday business that keeps a restaurant open on Monday.
So, how do we get there? First, we recruit who’s already here. Port-related firms, logistics companies, maritime law, and the blue-tech startups around AltaSea. Second, move public offices downtown. city, county, and Port departments serving the harbor should lease here. Offer incentives. Reduced business tax, parking support, or relocation grants give brokers something to sell. Sell the lifestyle. Work at the Topaz, live downtown, and catch a show at the Warner Grand or West Harbor amphitheater. No other South Bay office market offers that.
TWO HOTELS WOULD CHANGE EVERYTHING
Visitors who sleep downtown, spend downtown.
Next to the Warner Grand: Our 1931 movie palace has been closed since January 2024 for a roughly $22 million city renovation. When it reopens, a boutique hotel next door would let visitors see a show, eat on 6th, and stay the night.
At the old courthouse site: The county’s 1.8-acre lot on Centre Street has sat empty since the 2022 demolition, and the last developer’s agreement expired in December 2025. Our Historic Waterfront Business Improvement District (PBID) has already proposed festival space and parking now, with a hotel and event park later.
The catch: because it is county land, the site falls under the state Surplus Land Act, which favors public agencies and affordable housing. A creative plan, perhaps pairing a hotel with workforce housing and green space for events, could meet that test and align with Supervisor Janice Hahn’s goal of benefiting San Pedro for generations.
BRING THE WATERFRONT UPHILL
The biggest risk isn’t West Harbor failing. It’s West Harbor succeeding while visitors never cross Harbor Boulevard. We have a FREE Red Trolley linking West Harbor, the cruise terminal, the Warner Grand, and the Arts District; we just need more folks to use it. Construction on the new “Welcome to San Pedro” sign on 6th Street starts next month, pointing visitors uphill. We also need concert-night dinner deals and a “Downtown Passport” that turns cruise layovers into lunches, shopping, and exploring our town.
WHAT SMALL BUSINESSES NEED NOW
Some of this can start this year: Fill empty storefronts with pop-up leases for artists, makers, and food concepts. A lit window beats a scissor gate every time. Fund façade grants to decorate empty storefronts with the art this town is known for. Coordinate hours so a cluster of restaurants stays open Mondays and at lunch, especially on cruise days and concert nights. Support the PBID’s efforts to keep it clean, safe, and easy to park at the Topaz building. Speed up permits for build-outs and start-ups.
And shop local. That part is on us.
A DOWNTOWN FOR OUR GRANDCHILDREN
We’ve heard “next year” too many times. This time the pieces are real: the apartments, West Harbor, the amphitheater, record cruise traffic. What’s missing is office workers in the Topaz, hotel guests on 6th Street, and a coordinated push to pull visitors uphill.
That takes property owners, City Hall, the county, the Port, developers, and all of us showing up at community meetings. Get it right, and our grandchildren will walk a downtown that’s open on Mondays, busy at lunch, and alive at night. Let’s build it. spt
Lee Williams is a local real estate expert, community advocate, and harbor commissioner at the Port of LA. He believes in smart growth and investing in community, culture, art, and history. He can be reached at lee@lamove.com.
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