Another residential-commercial mixed-use development — with apartments and ground floor retail — is slated to begin construction early in 2026 in downtown San Pedro.
The eight-story mid-rise, 625 S. Beacon St., was initially proposed by Holland Partner Group and approved in 2021.
Now, the Trammell Crow Company is developing the building with ground floor commercial space. It will encompass a full city block near the town’s historic City Hall and a new open piazza space that’s nearing completion. It also is just steps away from Harbor Boulevard and will be close to the new West Harbor waterfront development — opening in 2026 — that includes an open-air amphitheater, restaurants and shops, and a Ferris wheel.
Alex Valente, principal at Trammell Crow, said the original design has been modified and is on track to get a final sign-off in January, with construction planned to begin later that month. It will take 2.5 years to complete.
“We’re full speed ahead here,” Valente said in a telephone interview this week.
Trammel Crow also developed Vivo, a similar project that opened in February at Harbor Boulevard and Fifth Street, just north of the new site and across from the Battleship Iowa Museum.
Dubbed “Jules,” this new project will take up a full city block from Sixth to Seventh streets and from Beacon to Palos Verdes streets.
“We liked the Jules Verne connection with ’20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,’” Valente said of the name, adding that it also had a “symbiotic connection” to nearby AltaSea and the marine research being done there.
“We’re excited about where San Pedro is heading,” Valente said, mentioning the West Harbor development, improvements at the Cabrillo Marina, the Battleship Iowa’s planned visitor center, and the discoveries and ongoing growth at AltaSea.
The new Jules development will be eight stories high, with parking on the ground floor, along with retail spaces that will include a restaurant or cafe.
“It could be a restaurant or a cafe or a ‘grab-and-go’ concept,” Valente said. “We’re working with a broker on it, the same one who helped us find Colossus Bakery (for Vivo), and are in discussions with various tenants.”
The development calls for 281 studio, one- and two-bedroom units, all at market rate, with no set-aside/dedicated lower-cost units.
Included is 1,276 square feet of ground floor commercial space (at the corner of Beacon and Sixth streets).
The plan also calls for 363 parking spaces to be located in an above-grade garage. Courtyards would be included above the parking deck in the contemporary, podium-style building.
But the development will also come with what will be a painful change in San Pedro: the loss of the Green Onion Mexican Restaurant, a port town favorite since it began operation 30 years ago. It is housed in one of the city redevelopment buildings slated for demolition — and there are no plans currently to reopen it elsewhere.
The owner, Bob Sanjabi, now 91, turned down an offer to move into a commercial space as part of the Jules development.
“We would have loved to have them,” Valente said, “but the retail space is much smaller, about one-third of their size, so that would have made it difficult (for them).”
The public is invited to a farewell party at the Green Onion from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12. Mariachis and other activities are planned.
The restaurant’s official closing day — tentatively, at this point — looks to be Friday, Nov. 21.