At the southwest corner of Herondo Street and Pacific Coast Highway, there is a new granite walking path that anyone can use today. Down at the harbor, at 200 Portofino Way, Seaside Lagoon is unchanged. After roughly two decades of debate, the city's plan to rebuild it is now an application headed to the California Coastal Commission.
This October, the Redondo Beach waterfront follows a clear pattern. The work getting finished is on the perimeter: a park at the harbor's inland gateway, new armor stone on the breakwater, and a replacement entry sign. The projects in the middle, where people swim, bowl, eat and launch boats, have all cleared a first vote. Each one still needs someone else to sign off before anything gets built.
The Inland Edge Is Open
Bill Brand Gateway Park opened Tuesday, July 28, 2026. The ceremony included a sing-along that Daily Breeze reported as "Bill Brand helped the people, and the people won." The park finishes a goal of the former mayor, who died in 2024.
Phase 1 is a passive park of about 2.3 acres on the east side of a 5.1-acre Southern California Edison right-of-way. It has a granite walking path, native plants, cobble swales, benches and a trash can. The swales are there for stormwater. City design documents say the storm drains, inlets and cobble channels collect and carry runoff. Mayor Jim Light said the plantings are watered with reclaimed water from the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant.
A few practical details for a first visit:
- Parking. The city's opening notice pointed visitors to street parking on Herondo Street.
- The view. You can see a narrow slice of ocean, but the former AES power plant building blocks much of it.
- The sign. At the opening, the city put up a temporary wooden commemorative sign and said a permanent one would come later.
The city's closeout report puts the final Phase 1 cost at $1,042,917.44. That includes a $946,560.50 construction contract built by Marina Landscape, Inc. and $79,356.94 in change orders. Architerra Design Group drew the plans. Construction started October 1, 2025 and was substantially complete April 2, 2026. That means the park sat finished for almost four months before it formally opened.
The park is only half built. The city split the site into two phases at SCE's direction and because funding was limited, and Phase 1 took the upper plateau on the east side. The remaining land has no schedule or budget. At the opening, Light said he hopes to extend the park down to Francisca Avenue. He also talked about a "greenbelt to the harbor" that would eventually reach the former AES site farther west. For now, that is a goal and not an approved plan.
The Seaward Edge Gets New Stone
The other perimeter project is the breakwater that shelters King Harbor. Federal inspections found that damage to the structure had started to accelerate. Contractors from Connolly-Pacific are now doing a $6.8 million repair for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They use a crane on the water to pull up and reset existing armor stone and add new boulders barged over from Catalina Island. The Corps says the breakwater still works fully, and its crest is 20 feet high.
Work started June 22, 2026. The Corps' latest target for finishing is mid-November. Until then, the effects are felt on land at Mole B. The contractor's staging area is there, and parking next to Moonstone Park may be reduced. The Army Corps has said it will make every effort to keep Moonstone Park open and let the Lanakila Outrigger Club keep operating. The city asks visitors to stay off the breakwall during active construction and asks boaters to keep clear of the barge and equipment, which move around during the project.
The harbor's entry sign is also on a fall schedule. On August 4, the city approved a $158,786 contract with San Pedro Sign Company to replace the King Harbor gateway sign, with completion expected by November. In December 2025, the sign was expected by mid-2026. The contract now runs through August 2027 in case of further delays.
The Center Is Waiting on Signatures
The four projects closest to the water have each cleared one vote. None of them has reached the step that lets construction or an opening happen.
| Project | Location | Latest step | Still required | Date on record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seaside Lagoon rebuild | 200 Portofino Way | Council directed staff to submit a Coastal Development Permit application on Sept. 15 | Coastal Commission permit | No completion date |
| Level Up Bowl and Bistro | 123 International Boardwalk | Exclusive negotiating agreement with Multiverse approved July 21 | A signed lease | No opening date |
| Hot Dog On a Stick return | 206 Fisherman's Wharf | Comeback announced in February 2026 | Opening not confirmed | No opening date |
| Public boat launch | Mole D | State grant application, February 2026 | Grant award and agreement | Agreement expected fall 2027 or winter 2028 |
Level Up is the closest to an answer. If a lease comes through, the former Fun Factory space, empty since 2019, would hold a bowling alley, arcade, bistro-style restaurant and sports bar. City staff gave themselves up to three months to draft the lease after the July vote. That window ends around late October.
Hot Dog On a Stick's return is less certain. The independent Craig's location closed in September 2024. In February, FAT Brands announced a corporate-owned store for the same spot. As of this writing, the brand is not listed in the Redondo Beach Pier directory.
The boat launch will take the longest. The site at Mole D sits between R10 Social House and Riviera Mexican Cantina. Under the city's schedule, the state recommends grant awards in January 2027 and adopts its budget in July 2027, and the city receives a grant agreement in fall 2027 or winter 2028. The project then has three years to be finished. A November 2025 Easy Reader story projected construction in 2027. The city's current timeline pushes that later.
Why the Lagoon Moved Forward Despite the Pushback
Seaside Lagoon got the closest call of the four. The current lagoon pulls in seawater from the harbor, treats it for swimming, then treats it again before sending it back. As that system ages, it has become more expensive to run. A pump failure closed the lagoon for about two weeks in the 2025 season and cost roughly $60,000 to repair. Community Services Director Elizabeth Hause told the council in April that the city's most recent two-year round of water-quality fines came to $175,000 after negotiation.
The replacement would be a closed loop holding about 770,000 gallons. Water would circulate at 3,000 gallons per minute, so the full volume would turn over roughly every 4.3 hours. The plan includes about an acre of swimming area with a maximum depth of five feet, a sand-covered zero-depth entry that leads to a deeper concrete-bottom section, and a water slide, splash features and ADA-accessible entry. Fencing would be arranged so more of the park stays open when swimming is closed.
Money is a large part of why the plan looks this way. The state set aside $10 million and the city committed $1 million. An earlier design included a lap-swimming area. Los Angeles County health rules would have required that pool to be physically separate and filtered on its own system, which pushed the estimate above $16 million. In April, the council backed a smaller first phase estimated at about $9.47 million.
On August 25, the Harbor Commission unanimously advised against the design as presented. Commissioners asked for a deeper lagoon, saltwater, a sand bottom, more year-round amenities, planning for sea-level rise, and more time on the state funding. Allen Sanford, founder of BeachLife Festival and California Surf Club, presented a separate concept: a surf-producing wave pool with a smaller family lagoon, a surf school, a volleyball court and a dining deck, as Patch reported. The council was not asked to approve the wave pool. Light said the city is not negotiating with Sanford over it. The council then voted unanimously to send the existing plan to the Coastal Commission. Light called it the closest the city has come to construction in about twenty years. Nothing can be built until the permit is issued.
The One Center-Stage Lease Already Signed
There is one finished agreement on the International Boardwalk, and it is with a longtime tenant. On August 4, 2026, the City Council adopted a lease for Quality Seafood Inc. covering about 10,919 rentable square feet at 100–130 International Boardwalk. The term runs from May 1, 2026 through June 30, 2036 and requires at least $500,000 in private storefront and facility improvements. No date has been reported for the storefront work. With the lease in place, Quality Seafood is set to remain on the boardwalk for the next ten years, a few doors from the old Fun Factory space, which is still unsettled.
Dates on the Calendar
- Late October 2026. The three-month window city staff set for drafting a Level Up lease ends.
- By November 2026. The new King Harbor gateway sign is expected.
- Mid-November 2026. The Corps' target for finishing the breakwater, after which staging on Mole B should end.
- January 2027. The state's expected recommendation of boat-launch grant awards.
The Coastal Commission's decision on Seaside Lagoon has no date yet.
At Powers Realty, we follow King Harbor as South Bay residents ourselves. If you'd like to talk through how the lagoon permit, the Fun Factory lease or the Mole D timeline could affect your part of Redondo Beach, we're glad to share what we're seeing. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
