Units will be priced from approximately $400,000 to the low $600,000s. TEAM managing partner Keith Bohr believes the units are competitive with the market rate and will sell for around the average $445,000 asking price without the need for dropping prices to attract would-be buyers.

Bohr says the proximity to the water, the historic look and feel of the project, and the FHA financing they plan to offer buyers will prove good attractants despite the market doldrums, which have hit Southern California's condo market hard. "Obviously, the temperature is favorable, and everybody likes to be close to the water," Bohr notes. "The location's great. The city's a classic, funky longshoremen town. We're hoping some young professionals who want to break into the market would like to be in that environment."

However, Bohr concedes that "It's a fluctuating market," and he acknowledges "we're ready to do whatever we have to do to sell these units in this kind off market." If he does have to drop prices on units, Bohr says, "I'm not going to do it right away."

Cathay Bank is the lender on the project, and TEAM bought the land for $1.6 million cash three years ago. Development costs were $6 million, according to information from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency.

Working with the San Pedro Historical Society and the LA/CRA, TEAM took the former 41-room LaSalle Hotel and the 67-room Mission Hotel originally built in the 1920's, renovated their historic façades, and rebuilt them in their same building envelopes.

When built, the hotels were conjoined, operating as one entity, according to Mary Stanley, president of the San Pedro Historical Society. "It was the first hotel in San Pedro that had 100 beds," Stanley says of the historic relevance of the project.

The 26 residential lofts will range in size from 783- to 1,510 sf, and the proposed four live-work loft units will be 1,503- to 1,825 sf. The two retail-office condos will range in size from 520- to 715 sf.

Amenities include a rooftop community area with barbecues and lounge chairs that overlook the city, San Pedro Harbor and the Vincent Thomas Bridge. Upper units will include customizable walk-in closets. Kitchens will include granite countertops, hardwood cabinets and energy-saving stainless steel appliances. Units come with private tandem two-car garages with overhead storage and direct garage-building access for most units.

San Pedro photojournalist Slobodan Dimitrov will create a ceramic collage of black and white photos illustrating the changing face of the American worker in the blue-collar communities that surround the Port of Los Angeles. The public art component will be located at on the 7th Street façade of the adjacent parking garage.