Cabrillo camp set for Olympics training will need repairs, Port of LA says

A beachfront youth camp in the Port of Los Angeles will need repairs as officials prepare for sail teams that will use the area for training for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Mike Galvin, director of port Waterfront and Commercial Real Estate, told L.A. harbor commissioners on Thursday, Feb. 26, that the aquatic center built in the 1980s under a 30-year lease for the Boy Scouts of America faces repairs that could run several million dollars. Repairs are needed for water leaks in the main building and other issues. But long-term, the port may also consider additional improvements to the site.

“We just took possession of the site two months ago,” he said during Thursday’s harbor commission meeting.

The issues with the camp are the result of “deferred maintenance,” he said, adding that the Olympics are set to begin using the property for training within the next few months.

The main building is 25,000 square feet but the camp also has an Olympic-sized pool, outdoor grounds suitable for docking small recreational vessels, restrooms and a boathouse with its own driveway.

The port is also looking into how some of the youth groups that have been using the area can be brought back to share the space, which eventually will be put out to bid by the port for a new lease once the Olympics are over.

The port took back control of the property after the Scouts left in December to get the area ready for Olympic teams.

Sailing events in the Games will be shared by both the ports of L.A. and Long Beach.

“It’s a great place for staging events,” Galvin told commissioners. “It just needs some polishing to bring it back up.”

In addition to the Boy Scouts, the camp has had a shared-use policy for Girl Scouts, Sea Scouts, local school groups, diving programs, dragon boaters and paddle boarders, Galvin said.

Assessments have been ongoing, he said, to determine what the port can do to make the property safe and in good use. The port will also do the repair work with an eye toward getting the camp ready for a new organization to come in, once Port of L.A. officials begin the process of drawing up a new lease when the Olympics are over.

The most immediate needs include stopping water from going into the building, which has both roof and ceiling damage, and making needed repairs to the pool, Galvin said. Decking around the site also needs replacing, he said.

“The first step is to get in there and get it open and make it safe,” Galvin said.

After that, he said, discussions — which will include community members — will begin on a longer-term use of the property.