By Mark Edward Nero
AltaSea, an in-development marine research center at the Port of Los Angeles, will receive a $20 million gift from the Annenberg Foundation, the foundation’s president and CEO said Feb. 11 at an event to unveil designs for the project.
Wallis Annenberg, Chairman, President and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, announced the contribution toward the development of AltaSea, a new public-private endeavor in the Port of LA that brings together science, business and education to generate solutions to the challenges of sustainability.
“The ocean may be the most precious public resource we have, a life source unlike any other on the planet,” Annenberg said. “AltaSea is about uniting business, academia, and our scientific community to turn the Port of LA’s public waterfront into the mecca for jobs, discovery and sustainability that it should be.”
AltaSea, now in its first phase of development, came to fruition in 2013 when the LA City Council approved a lease agreement to transform a pier on the Los Angeles waterfront in San Pedro into AltaSea.
Located on a 35-acre campus in the Port of Los Angeles, AltaSea is said to be the only urban, ocean-based ideas and innovation center in the world.
Planning and permitting for Phase One has begun, with construction expected to begin in 2017 and be complete by 2019. The total project budget is $217 million, with a goal of $160 million in private funding.
The 50-year master lease for the 35-acre site requires $53.25 million to be raised by the first quarter of 2017 for the port to begin construction and ensure occupancy by the end of 2019.
