The Port of Los Angeles put out a request for comments from stakeholders last month – an initial step towards building the proposed Harbor Performance Enhancement Center, a planned container staging facility that already has $130 million in committed funding.
The study is the first step towards submitting an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) as required by the state. EIRs provide the public and the decision-makers with detailed information about a project’s environmental impact.
The goal of new container facility is to increase efficiency in cargo movement by utilizing a parcel of land on port property – a plot located on Terminal Island at 300 S. Ferry St. and 750 Eldridge St. The facility is intended to create a peel-off yard to provide 24-hour, seven-day-a-week access to container storage which would be utilized by neighboring Port of Long Beach as well. Neither port currently provides continuous access to containers.
The property was formerly occupied by Los Angeles Export Terminal and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, port officials said.
Harbor Performance Enhancement Center (HPEC), which is the name of the facility as well as the organization behind the project, is backed by the port and a consortium led by Jonathan Rosenthal, chief executive of HPEC and chief executive of Sawtelle-based investment firm Saybrook Corporate Opportunity Funds.
The public-private partnership announced in April that it had tapped Macquarie Principal Finance, a subsidiary of Australia-based financial services firm, Macquarie Group, to finance the project. Macquarie is reportedly providing the full $130 million in funding.
Wet Seal is Back
Wet Seal President Ramez Toubassy confirmed the company was making a return as an e-commerce retailer last week in an email to the Business Journal.
Toubassy also serves as the president of Boston, Mass.-based Gordon Brothers Brands, a subsidiary of Gordon Brothers, which acquired Wet Seal for $3 million after the retailer filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy for a second time in 2017.
Wet Seal raked in over $500 million in revenue with 478 stores as recently as 2014, according to Gordon Brothers website.
There are no plans for brick-and-mortar store, Toubassy said. In an interview with California Apparel News, he said, the focus is to “become an assetless brand company.” This includes outsourcing retail, distribution and fulfillment to third parties, he told the apparel publication.
Wet Seal’s clothes average price points are between $15 and $ 35, according to its website.
Port of Long Beach Green Efforts
The Port of Long Beach last month put funding in place for a program to build infrastructure that will support electric-powered, zero-emissions cargo-handling equipment at its largest container terminal, Total Terminal International, located at Pier T.
The $16.8 million project calls for the design and installation of charging stations outlets for nearly 40 pieces of electric terminal equipment, port officials said. The project is funded in part by an $8 million California Energy Commission grant.
“When finished, this project will be a cost-effective, replicable model that the Port of Long Beach and others can use to speed progress to zero emissions,” Harbor Commission President Lou Anne Bynum said in a statement. “It’s part of a wide array of approaches we are using to reduce air pollution for our community and deliver on our promise as the Green Port.”
The first phase of the program – Known as the Port Advanced Vehicle Electrification project – will include an equipment demonstration that’s expected to begin early in 2021 and the overall project to be completed a year later in March.
The transition is part of the port’s larger Clean Air Action Plan, a joint environmental initiative with neighboring Port of Los Angeles that mandates the ports’ entire trucking fleet be zero-emission by 2035 and all of its cargo handling equipment by zero-emissions by 2030.
Second Lazy Acres Store
Santa Barbara-based Lazy Acres Market Inc. is planning to open a second Los Angeles supermarket in Hermosa Beach in October, the company announced last month.
The company, founded in 1991 is opening its second location on 2510 Pacific Coast Highway, where Artesia Boulevard connects Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.
“Our growth is thoughtful and strategic, with a focus on communities that embrace family and healthy lifestyles, like Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach,” Lazy Acres Chief Executive Matt Turnbull said in a statement.
Lazy Acres is a known as a natural and organic fresh food store brand. The Hermosa Beach location will feature interactive elements including a live, working beehive and an instruction kitchen which will host regular cooking classes, the company said.
Staff reporter Shwanika Narayan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8351.
