"It changed it from Seaside Lagoon to a pool; from nine feet deep to five feet, saltwater to fresh. It takes it from Thanksgiving all-the-fixings to meat and potatoes." Harbor Commission chair Ryan Ableman said that at a public meeting in September, as Easy Reader reported. The next night, the City Council sent the meat-and-potatoes version to the Coastal Commission anyway.
That vote says a lot about the South Redondo waterfront right now. Redondo is no longer waiting on a single developer to remake the pier and harbor in one go. Easy Reader reported that the city's harbor amenities planning was set in motion in 2021, after the CenterCal project failed. Since then the work has gone forward through the King Harbor Public Amenities Plan, a framework that covers separate project areas, among them Seaside Lagoon, Moonstone Park, the short pier and the International Boardwalk. Each piece now moves on its own budget, its own approvals and its own schedule.
As of mid-October 2026, every piece that has actually moved is the smaller version. Some are funded, some are only half open, and some are still just an agreement to keep talking.
Seaside Lagoon opened as a public park in 1962. The Coastal Commission application is Phase 1 of what the city hopes will be a bigger revamp later. The original 2024 concept was a bigger plan, with phase one alone estimated at more than $16 million, the Daily Breeze reported on September 1. Staff cut the scope back, and in April 2026 the council told them to move ahead with the smaller project. A $10 million state grant funds the work.
The plan submitted in September includes:
Moving to fresh water connects to a long-running cost. Since 2001 the city has paid $935,000 in state water-quality fines tied to rules on chlorine in ocean discharge from the lagoon. The new design replaces the saltwater system with closed-loop filtration. "The whole point of us reconstructing it is to get out of the seawater intake and discharge business," City Manager Mike Witzansky said, per Easy Reader. The trade is the one Ableman described: a shallower, freshwater pool in place of a deeper saltwater lagoon.
Demand for the place hasn't faded. Waterfront and Community Services Director Elizabeth Hause reported that the lagoon was open 104 days in the 2026 season and logged 67,727 admissions. That works out to about 650 visits a day.
The clock is tight. The city hopes for Coastal Commission approval early in 2027, then plans to hire a contractor and reopen the lagoon by the 2028 Summer Olympics. "A very quick timeframe, but we think we can do it," Hause said, per Easy Reader.
There is also a different idea for the site. At the Harbor Commission meeting, Allen Sanford, co-founder of BeachLife Festival and California Surf Club next door, presented a proposal for a wave pool that would keep a smaller wading pool. The King Harbor Association, a waterfront business group, has endorsed it. Public comment both nights focused on whether a public park should take on a public-private partnership for economic reasons. For now, the council chose the version it can pay for with money it already has.
The same step-by-step approach shows up on the pier. The Redondo Fun Factory closed in October 2019, and the space has been empty for nearly seven years. On July 21, 2026, the council approved an exclusive negotiating agreement with Multiverse, the operator of Level Up Bowl and Bistro, for a possible bowling alley, arcade and bistro there, according to the Daily Breeze. The item passed on the consent calendar.
"I am excited to bring something new, exciting, locally owned and family-oriented to this space. I am hopeful we can come to mutually agreeable terms by the end of the ENA."
Mayor Jim Light, in a Facebook post quoted by the Daily Breeze
An exclusive negotiating agreement is not a lease. It gives both sides time to work out terms, and it does not commit the city to signing anything. The city has already finished seismic upgrades to the building. Staff could draft a lease within three months, and a separate round of negotiation would follow. July 21 plus three months lands right about now. We found no public report since July on how the talks are going, so the most accurate status as of today is still "negotiating."
Under the pier, in the former Brixton's space, Deep End Live shows the same pattern from a business that has actually opened. The Daily Breeze reported in April that the venue signed a 10-year lease. It opened a 4,000-square-foot room that holds 234 people, while a roughly 6,000-square-foot room for about 400 people was saved for a later phase. We found nothing newer showing the bigger room has opened.
The smaller room is busy. Deep End Live's calendar for this month includes Boots on the Pier on October 14, Dueling Pianos on October 15, Black Flag on October 16, a Max 80s Halloween Weekend Kickoff on October 30 and Skeleton Crewe on October 31. Bookings run into December, including Elijah Scott on December 5.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers scheduled its King Harbor breakwall repair to start June 22, 2026, according to a City of Redondo Beach notice. The notice said a barge would move along the breakwall as work progressed, with crane work planned from Mole A. Mole B was designated as the construction staging area, so parking next to Moonstone Park could be reduced. The Army Corps said it would make every effort to keep Moonstone Park open and let the Lanakila Outrigger Club keep operating throughout. The city also asks visitors to stay off the breakwall during active work and boaters to keep a safe distance from the equipment.
The notice says the repair is expected to finish in November 2026. We found no progress report or schedule change since, so November is still the official target.
The boat launch, one of the amenities plan's longest-running items, follows the same small-project approach. On November 4, 2025, the council voted unanimously for a two-lane launch at Mole D, between R10 Social House and Riviera Mexican Cantina. The ramp angles 45 degrees into the water so no commercial property has to be moved, Easy Reader reported. The city planned to apply for a state Division of Boating and Waterways grant, with design in 2026 and construction in 2027. We found no public confirmation yet that the grant was awarded or that the schedule still holds. The site was chosen to avoid moving any businesses, and the project depends on grant money, the same two limits that shaped the lagoon plan.
Meanwhile, the waterfront has a full event schedule while the construction and negotiations continue:
That makes December 12 the busiest day on the waterfront this season. The pier celebration ends at 4 p.m., the paddle craft are already out by then, and the lighted boats follow at 5:30.
Whether it's the lagoon's Coastal Commission hearing, the Multiverse lease talks or the boat launch grant, we keep tabs on what's changing along the pier and harbor because it affects daily life in South Redondo. If you have questions about how any of these projects could affect your street, your weekends or your plans, call Billings Beach Homes. Brook will tell you what we know and what's still pending.
Compass
2141 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 1120
El Segundo, CA 90245
Brook Billings | CA DRE# 01997704
Billings Beach Homes and Associates
