Harbor Commission OKs Plan for Redevelopment

After almost a decade of prodding and proposals from Wilmington activists, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission has adopted a plan to redevelop a 30-acre portion of the community’s waterfront and provide better access to the area for residents.

The project, expected to cost at least $15 million over the next 20 years, includes a 20,000-square-foot community center clustered with restaurants, retail shops and a waterfront promenade at Banning’s Landing.

Although community activists have urged the redevelopment of the waterfront since the early 1980s, it was not until 1988 that city and port officials embarked on a plan to bring commercial development to an area occupied for years by industrial yards and facilities related to port commerce. The plan was fashioned by the Wilmington Community Advisory Committee and designed by a Baltimore firm.