Long awaited West Harbor waterfront slated to roll out in San Pedro in 2026

San Pedro’s new waterfront development is slated to begin seeing activity in the coming year.

On course for a 2026 grand opening, West Harbor this month announced the signing of six additional dining tenants as 2025 comes to a close.

The long-anticipated, mile-long, $500 million development will also begin work early in the coming year on San Pedro’s recently approved 6,200-seat waterfront amphitheater — it received the final go ahead from the Los Angeles City Council in September — which will go at the southern end of the development; developers expect that project to be done in time to host a half-season in 2026.

West Harbor has been years in the making as the waterfront’s former attraction, Ports O’ Call Village — which came online in the early 1960s — was aging out. Support for a new, revitalized commercial and recreational waterfront gained traction, and a groundbreaking took place in November 2022. The planning, however, began years before that, with approvals and sign-offs by the Port of Los Angeles coming in 2009.

Community discussions and developer vetting launched several years before that.

Newly signed dining tenants unveiled this month include:

• Tacos El Franc, which will make its Los Angeles debut at West Harbor; featured on Netflix’s Taco Chronicles, it serves handmade tortillas and traditional fillings.
• Glass Box, a high-concept Asian dining experience enclosed in a glass structure, which will bring its Japanese, Korean and Chinese fare to L.A. for the first time. It originated in San Diego, and features an open kitchen and menu spanning sushi and sashimi, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, and tenderloin steak fried rice.
• Paraná Empanadas, a San Diego favorite that serves authentic Argentine fare inspired by family recipes passed down through generations; its Malbec beef empanada, marinated in Argentinian wine for 24 hours, anchors the menu.
• LoZio Pizza, a spinoff of Redondo Beach’s LoZio Osteria, features pizzaiolo Marco Aromatario with traditional Italian and modern pies.
• Freska Bar, whichhas selections of alcoholic and non-alcoholic agua-frescas, along with comfort foods such as bacon-wrapped hot dogs and wings.

Restaurant tenants previously signed include Yamashiro, Hopscotch and The Baked Bear.

While West Harbor likely won’t have its big grand opening celebration until later in 2026, people won’t have to wait that long to begin checking it all out and enjoying some of that cuisine, according to developers.

There will be phased openings that could begin as early as this summer. Some of the initial tenant build-outs that are now underway would coincide with that.

The formal grand opening later in the year would be timed with the Ferris wheel and other amusement and recreational attractions, developers said.

For now, the northern section of the new promenade along the waterfront is open to the public for strolling and sightseeing. The San Pedro Fish Market is open in its final temporary location on the waterfront site before moving into a new building being created to the south for the much-loved gathering spot. For now, the southern section of the promenade and overall site remains closed as construction continues on large outer buildings and other amenities.

Also coming later in 2026 will be the 175-foot SkyStar Ferris Wheel — billed as California’s tallest — pickleball and padel courts, tall ship sailing, a members-only dog park, and year-round programming.

Along with the amphitheater, the majority of project amenities are scheduled for completion in the summer. Along with the Ferris wheel, other North Park recreational amenities are slated for completion by the end of 2026.

“In the coming months, the public can expect to see final detailing across key public spaces, alongside tenant buildouts coming together,” the developers said in a written statement said. “The majority of restaurants and entertainment venues in Building A are expected to open this summer, with the remaining West Harbor tenants launching on a rolling basis.”

Plans for the 42-acre project also include a new home for one of San Pedro’s most popular family-owned eateries on the water, the San Pedro Fish Market, which was a Ports O’ Call mainstay and remains a hometown favorite. It is being billed as the centerpiece of the future development.

Eric Johnson, CEO of Jerico Development, the development company along with The Ratkovich Co., said the overall aim and idea is to create what Ports O’ Call did in its heyday.

“For generations,” Johnson said in a written statement, “the San Pedro waterfront was a place where you could spend the whole day exploring, especially during the old Ports O’ Call years. The sense of wonder and excitement it inspired has been a guiding inspiration for West Harbor from the start.”

Perhaps the biggest draw through the years has always been a front-row view of Los Angeles’ working harbor, with the container ships, tugs and other nonstop activity on the water.

The project and its design, however, haven’t always enjoyed a universal embrace in the close-knit, historic waterfront community. Some residents — many of whom grew up frolicking there, working there as teens and then bringing their own families there through the years — objected to abandoning Ports O’ Call Village. And the time it’s taken to plan and get to the construction stage of the new attraction has frustrated onlookers.

But the promise and buzz of a new, updated waterfront has also brought new development, investment, residents and attention to the working port town.

The tenant mix for the development, Johnson said, has “continued to evolve as we refine the overall vision and respond to operator demand and broader market conditions.”

In particular, the amphitheater is expected to be a major crowd draw; it will be managed by Nederlander, the firm that handled booking for the Greek Theatre for years.

It is now scheduled to open in the summer, Johnson said, “with a robust slate of grand-opening events, immersive programming and community experiences.

“The extent of summer 2026 concert season will unfold over the next six months,” he added, “with the first full concert season planned for 2027, for which Nederlander will be actively programming.”

Dining and entertainment are expected to dominate the offerings, designed to draw families. Admission is free but there will be a charge for parking.

Dining tenants will be housed primarily in the large open buildings now under construction. New tenants now signing on will begin work once permits are issued in the new year.

“Across the board,” a spokesperson wrote, “we’re coordinating timelines to introduce a strong concentration of tenant openings in Summer 2026, with further openings phased in thereafter.”

A membership-only dog park is also still included in the waterfront “master plan,” a project spokesperson said.

Bark Social — the East Coast company that had been originally slated to design, oversee and run one of its parks for West Harbor — closed because of financial problems about a year ago, though it was later rebooted under new ownership.

No specifics were offered on management of the West Harbor park still envisioned for the waterfront site.

But West Harbor developers said they remain committed to creating such a public/membership dog park concept for the new L.A. waterfront and that either way, the overall venue is designed to be dog-friendly.