San Pedro Fish Market plans new “supersize” restaurant

The San Pedro Fish Market is planning to supersize.

The family-run business that started in 1956 is planning to relocate within the Port of Los Angeles about a mile north of the current location, into a new, 200,000-square-foot, 5,500-seat establishment, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The new restaurant would sprawl across three indoor and outdoor levels, and would feature a ferris wheel-type ride that would offer views of the harbor, if approved by port officials, the City Council and the California Coastal Commission.

Currently located on the waterfront of the Port of L.A.’s main channel, the San Pedro Fish Market as it stands has seating for around 3,000. It’s located at the same pier that housed the Ports O’Call development, which was torn down in 2018.

The owners of the development that is expected to replace Ports O’Call, West Harbor, tried to come to an agreement to keep the Fish Market at its new development, but failed. The Fish Market wanted more space, saying the restaurant has “gotten too big” for the development.

The new Fish Market would cost around $140 million to build and employ about 500 workers. Mike Ungaro, the chief executive of the restaurant and part of the third generation running the business, told the L.A. Times he hopes the new establishment will see 3.5 million visitors per year, up from the 2 million visitors the current restaurant had per year prior to the pandemic.

Though Ungaro hopes to have the new establishment operational in fewer than five years, he’ll have to move out of his current restaurant once work starts on the new West Harbor location.

The restaurant could operate out of a temporary location in the meantime, Mike Galvin, the director of the Port of L.A.’s real estate operations, told the L.A. Times.

[LAT] — Isabella Farr