Ex-San Pedro Courthouse Redevelopment, 300 Apartments Moved Forward

The city of Los Angeles planning department has officially approved developer Genton Cockrum Partners‘ plan to redevelop a former San Pedro courthouse into a mixed-use community, according to a determination letter filed by the city on Friday. The move sets the stage for an expected April groundbreaking by the Pasadena-based developer after several years of planning for the 1.79-acre site that go back to 2016.

Plans call for an eight-story, 336,514-square-foot mixed-use building with 300 units at 505 S. Centre St. Designed by MVE + Partners, the project will include three levels of parking –two of which will be underground — under five stories of apartments consisting of 30 studios, 132 one-bedrooms, 114 two-bedrooms, and 24 three-bedrooms. The ground-floor will have about 25,000 square feet of commercial uses, including about 13,000 square feet envisioned as a grocery store but with the flexibility for a full-service food market or food hall, filings show. The 92-foot-tall building will also hold about 18,000 square feet of resident open space, including approximately 13,000 square feet for a pair of elevated courtyards and pool deck, and will have 555 resident and commercial parking spaces.

The San Pedro site has been owned by Los Angeles County since 2016. That year, it issued a Request for Proposals, eventually entering into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a prior developer, Holland Partner Group, that fell through after sides couldn’t come to terms. The county agreed to a deal with Genton Cockrum Partners in 2018 after a reissued RFP, and the current iteration of plans was finally filed in June. Meanwhile, the courthouse itself has been vacant since 2013, according to planning documents.

Genton Cockrum Partners expects demolition of the 52,000 square foot courthouse building area, along with construction activities, to commence in or before April. The last day to file an appeal of the planning director’s determination is January 5.