Port of LA Backs a 17,500-Square-Foot Pavilion and Park at the Battleship Iowa

The Port of Los Angeles is contributing up to $4 million toward Phase 1 of the Freedom of the Seas Park and Pavilion at the Battleship IOWA in San Pedro. The Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the funding in August through the Port's Public Access Investment Plan, which the Port says is funded entirely through Port revenues with no taxpayer contributions, and the permit amendment then went to the Los Angeles City Council, the final approval required under the City Charter.

The pavilion is planned as a 17,500 square foot visitor, community and education center with capacity for up to 550 people, meeting rooms, a veteran and visitor resource center and an entrance designed like a ship's bow. The surrounding park will add gathering spaces, veterans memorials, public art, an Honor Walk and two Brown Water Navy boats.

The Port puts the total project at approximately $17 million, including a $6.7 million State of California grant. The Pacific Battleship Center, which operates the museum, is targeting 2027 for the pavilion and 2028 to 2030 for the park. The Iowa, which carried President Roosevelt across the Atlantic in 1943, is home to the National Museum of the Surface Navy.