Harbor Dept. Plans Building

The Los Angeles Harbor Department, which a year ago broke off negotiations with a Hollywood company that was to build an office tower on port-owned land in downtown San Pedro, is working on its own plan for a 200,000-square-foot building.

A preliminary plan for the building is expected to be finished in about a month, according to Mark Richter, assistant director of property management for the port. Richter said port officials hope the building would house Harbor Department offices, as well as port tenants and maritime-related businesses.

But Richter would not divulge further details, saying the plan must first be presented to the Board of Harbor Commissioners and the directors of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which also has jurisdiction over the project.

Port officials have been planning to construct an office building on the property, a square block across the street from their Palos Verdes Street headquarters, since 1983. Last August, port officials severed talks with developer HCT Inc. of Hollywood, saying that negotiations had reached an impasse and that they would develop the building themselves.