Over a dozen shopkeepers at San Pedro’s kitschy Ports O’Call are gearing up to sue the Port of Los Angeles over their imminent eviction to make way for the eventual redevelopment of the property into the new San Pedro Public Market, reports the Daily Breeze.
Shopkeepers at the current Ports O’Call will all be able to apply for space in the new project, but that can’t happen until those buildings are constructed. That in-between time is a big issue for many store owners.
Shopkeepers expected help with relocating their stores, a process that’s harder than it sounds, they say. “I have 500 square feet here and there are no places even under 1,000 square feet in downtown. And none of those landlords has offered us a decent rent,” shop owner Bobbi Lisk tells the Breeze.
A representative for the port tells the Breeze that tenants have known for at least a year that they would have to be out by the summer of 2017. That date was pushed back “after input from shop owners.” The port is also doing outreach to try and find shopkeepers new temporary space in other locations.
The owners of 15 shops are looking at an October 2 eviction. The shop owners’ landlord, the Port of Los Angeles, needs them out in order to begin demolition on the old maritime attraction so that the San Pedro Public Market’s new promenade and “town square” can be built.
Actual construction on the new buildings on the site is expected begin between late 2018 and early 2019, with a 2020 opening for the first phase of the new complex.
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