Officials float idea of port research center

The currents of change coursing through Los Angeles Harbor were evident Wednesday when Geraldine Knatz went to the waterfront and stood among aging chemical storage tanks, spread her arms and announced: “This is where we hope to house a world-class marine research center.”

“It’s a natural fit; just minutes away from the open ocean,” said Knatz, executive director of the 7,500-acre port, “and an ideal location to study the impacts of global climate change and rising sea levels on coastal infrastructure.”

As envisioned by port planners, the storage tanks and adjoining properties could be turned into a sprawling nexus of laboratories and classrooms, a fish hatchery, a business park and berths for local, state and federal research vessels.

The huge area within the breakwater could even provide room for a massive outdoor wave tank to study, for example, the effect of storms on coastal structures. The local community would benefit, Knatz said, as scientists, students and entrepreneurs would eat, shop and live in the area.

The idea of anchoring a premier research center at the site now dominated by Westway Terminal Co., which operates 136 tanks on the San Pedro side of the harbor’s main channel, was first broached in 2001 amid concerns that such facilities could become terrorists’ targets.

But port officials, led by Knatz, a former marine biologist, have been promoting the proposed research center since the Los Angeles City Council voted in August to spend more than $17 million to eliminate the 13-acre Westway operation and pay to clean up the soil beneath the tanks at the Port of Los Angeles’ City Dock No. 1.

No specific development plan exists, but the site is attracting interest.

The research center is one of several ideas for a secluded collection of abandoned warehouses, weed patches and storage tanks.

“We’re only in the conceptual phase,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday. “But this is an exciting and innovative idea with the potential to create jobs, improve the quality of life and give back to Los Angeles schoolchildren. We’d like to get moving on this.”

Councilwoman Janice Hahn, whose district includes the San Pedro waterfront, agreed.

“The idea of having a marine research center there is terrific, and the economic benefits would be huge,” she said. But, she said, “it’s only one of many good proposals.”

Built in 1907, City Dock No. 1 for generations was a powerful economic magnet, pulling in warehouses, fish canneries and chemical tank farms and providing the region with new jobs and lifestyles.

The idea of housing research facilities there has caught the attention of the Annenberg Foundation, which has offered a $50,000 matching grant to fund development of a “visioning process” for prospective tenants and stakeholders.

“We’re excited about this,” said Leonard J. Aube, the foundation’s managing director. “We’re struck by the notion of an innovative partnership to help solve the world’s climate issues, and improve the quality of life in the greater Los Angeles region.”

A transformation at City Dock No. 1 can’t happen soon enough for Herb Zimmer, chairman of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce’s waterfront committee. “After years of hosting industries that were not particularly kind to the environment and health,” he said, “we’re turning the corner by planning to conduct research to improve the world. So we’re behind this idea all the way.”

Of particular interest to Anthony Michaels, director of the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies at Santa Catalina Island, was the prospect of a central harbor location for research and degree programs operated by USC, the Ocean Studies Institute, the Cal State system, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Catalina Island Conservancy. The site also could provide a new home for the aging Southern California Marine Institute on Terminal Island.

“Opportunities like this don’t come very often. There is nothing in existence on the scale we’re talking about,” Michaels said.

“Of course, we still have to figure out how to pay for it, and develop a self-sustaining business model,” he said.

Ultimate approval for the proposal would come from the Los Angeles City Council after a process that may take years to complete, harbor officials said.

“I’m as happy as a clam at high tide,” said Knatz, who was expected to launch a campaign in support of the proposal tonight during her executive director’s report to the port’s Board of Commissioners, “because we’re talking about generating technology, science and education that will benefit this community and hopefully the world.”

louis.sahagun@latimes.com