What Is Happening to Redondo Beach's Waterfront in 2026? The AES Site and the Pier, Explained

Published July 15, 2026

A proposed 2,300 unit AES redevelopment and a stalled $100M pier rebuild are reshaping Redondo's waterfront. Here is what owners nearby should watch.

A developer has proposed converting Redondo Beach's shuttered AES power plant site into a 2,300 unit mixed use project called One Redondo (1,832 market rate homes plus 458 affordable units), while the King Harbor pier and parking structure, badly in need of repair, still lack the roughly 100 million dollars needed to rebuild after voters killed the previous 400 million dollar CenterCal waterfront plan in 2017.\n\n## Two waterfront stories, one holding pattern\n\nIf you own rental property in Redondo Beach, the Riviera, or nearby North Redondo, you have probably heard both of these stories and maybe conflated them. They are separate, but they both matter to what your property is worth and who wants to rent near you.\n\n## The AES site: a big supply story, still years out\n\nThe 51 acre AES Redondo Beach Generating Station on Harbor Drive shut down power generation years ago. In 2023, a development team filed an application with the city for One Redondo, proposing more than 2,300 residential units (1,832 market rate and 458 deed restricted affordable), a hotel, office space, and roughly 22 acres left as open green space, with the plant's historic main building possibly repurposed as event space or a museum, according to Urbanize LA's coverage of the filing. The California Coastal Commission has also flagged roughly 6 acres of the site as active wetlands, which are now protected from development and are the subject of a separate parkland and habitat restoration effort tracked by the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project.\n\nThe city found the initial application incomplete in November 2023, and the site's ownership has been tangled up in a bankruptcy dispute tied to the plant's former parent company, AES. None of this means the project is dead. It means it is early. For property owners, a development of this size, over 2,300 units, would be the largest single addition to Redondo Beach's housing stock in decades if it is eventually approved and built. That is a multi year process even under a best case timeline, but it is worth tracking because it will eventually add supply, amenities, and likely a new commercial node to the harbor area.\n\n## The pier: an old fight, still unresolved\n\nThe second story is older and, in some ways, more settled: in March 2017, Redondo Beach voters passed Measure C with about 57 percent support, sharply limiting new development along the waterfront and effectively killing CenterCal Properties' 400 million dollar Waterfront project, a privately financed plan for a boardwalk, hotel, theater, and dining and shopping district under a 99 year ground lease, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal's account of the vote's aftermath. CenterCal sued the city; the dispute dragged into 2018 and beyond before the joint permit applications were formally withdrawn.\n\nThat left the city with an aging pier and parking structure and no private partner. The city's own King Harbor Amenities Plan, approved by the City Council on October 18, 2022, estimates that necessary upgrades to the pier and parking structure alone could run more than 100 million dollars. The city has said it wants to fund the work through private investment rather than taxpayer dollars, but as of this writing there is no fully financed, approved construction plan in place.\n\n## What this means for you\n\nIf you own or manage rental property in Redondo Beach today, neither story changes your rent roll this year. But both are worth watching for different reasons. The AES site is a long horizon supply and neighborhood change story: if One Redondo or something like it eventually breaks ground, it will bring new competition for renters but also new retail, jobs, and foot traffic to the harbor area, which tends to lift surrounding property values over time. The pier situation is more of a near term amenity risk: a waterfront that looks tired, with a pier and parking structure still awaiting a funded rebuild, can soften the pull for renters and vacationers who choose Redondo over Hermosa or Manhattan Beach specifically for the beach experience. Owners near the harbor should factor "deferred waterfront capital improvements" into their read of the local market the same way they would factor in a school district change or a new transit line.\n\nIf you would rather not track city council agendas and Coastal Commission filings yourself, that is what we do for our owners.\n\nThis is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.\n\n## Sources\n1. Developer proposes 2,300 homes, offices, and more at AES site in Redondo Beach, Urbanize LA\n2. Redondo Beach: Power Plant to Park Acquisition and Planning, Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project\n3. Waterfront's Future Adrift After Redondo Beach Voters Reject $400 Million Project, Los Angeles Business Journal\n4. Redondo Beach, California, King Harbor-Pier Development Restrictions, Measure C (March 2017), Ballotpedia)\n5. Redondo Beach Pier And King Harbor, City of Redondo Beach\n6. King Harbor Amenities Plan\n\nLast verified: July 2026.

Topics: market, redondo beach, waterfront redevelopment, south bay housing, rental supply

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