California Preservation Awards Sponsorship

To learn about CPF's sponsorship opportunities, including how you can sponsor this page, click here or email us.

The 2025 Design Awards Event

We're celebrating 22 award winning projects, as well as the Trustee's Awards for Excellence and the President's Awards at the California Museum in Sacramento, near the State Capitol. This special celebration is followed by a ticketed reception with food and drinks in the outdoor courtyard of the museum.

Harbor House

Project Lead:  Karin Liljegren, Principal / Founder, Omgivning, Los Angeles
Client:  Fred Afari, Parkview Management Group, Inc.,  Sherman Oaks
Lead Architect, Engineer, or Designer:  Karin Liljegren,  Omgivning, Los Angeles

Project Affiliates:

  • Architect: Karin Liljegren, Founder / Principal, Omgivning, Los Angeles
  • Owner / Client: Fred Afari, President, PARKVIEW MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC, Sherman Oaks
  • Landscape Architect: Paul Gagne, Principal / Landscape Architect, Harmony Gardens, Los Angeles
  • Lead Engineer: Wayne Chang, Structural Focus, Gardena
  • Historic Preservation Consultant: John Locasio, HRG ( Historic Resources Group ), Pasadena
  • Contractor: Michael Librush, MDM Builders Group Inc., Los Angeles
  • Project Lead & Title: Karin Liljegren, Omgivning, Los Angeles
  • Owner/Client & Title: Fred Afari, PARKVIEW MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC, Sherman Oaks
  • Architect: Karin Liljegren, Omgivning, Los Angeles
  • Landsccape Architect: Paul Gagne, Harmony Gardens, Los Angeles
  • Lead Structural Engineer: Wayne Chang, Structural Focus, Gardena
  • Historic Preservation Consultant: John Locasio, HRG, Pasadena
  • Contractor Michael Librush, MDM Builders Group Inc., Los Angeles

Harbor House

Harbor House is a winner for the 2025 Preservation Design Award for Rehabilitation. Award recipients are selected by a jury of top professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, planning, and history, as well as renowned architecture critics and journalists. Tickets and sponsorship options are available at californiapreservation.org/programs/awards/.

About Harbor House

A once lively and vibrant neighborhood asset, the Army and Navy YMCA at 921 S Beacon Street in San Pedro, had been drifting into disrepair since its most active days between the 1920s-40s. The YMCA moved their organization out of the waterfront building after a period of opening the facilities to civilian use and it came to be Harbor View House transitional housing at a time when the neighborhood began to decline due to lack of continued investment.

At project outset, the property was deteriorated due to age and years of deferred maintenance. The project’s goal was to retain and restore the exterior and interior character-defining features of the architecturally significant waterfront building, bringing affordable housing for area residents and returning the building’s amenities that had been closed due to cost of upkeep and seismic and code compliance issues – specifically the coffee shop, restaurant, gymnasium, and handball court areas.

Read more about the Preservation Design Awards

Community Importance

The newly rehabilitated building will provide 100 safe, well-designed apartments, 10 of which will serve very low-income individuals and/or families in San Pedro – a historic community where many similar neighborhood touchstones have disappeared due to lack of investment. In an era of critical housing shortages and decreasing neighborhood walkability, the Harbor House residents will have quality living quarters and full access to the building’s historic amenities.  In addition, many of these amenities will be blended for both private and public use allowing the expansion of outreach to the neighborhood in which the public has not been able to enter since the 1960s.

The Army and Navy YMCA was built to be a central feature for the surrounding military-adjacent community. As the military moved out, so did the building’s lively purpose. This project has facilitated activity to return to a notable, eye-catching architectural hallmark.

About CPF and the Awards

The California Preservation Awards are a statewide hallmark, showcasing the best in historic preservation. The awards ceremony includes the presentation of the Preservation Design Awards and the President’s Awards, bringing together hundreds of people each year to share and celebrate excellence in preservation.

The California Preservation Foundation (CPF), a 501c3 nonprofit, was incorporated in 1978. We now support a national network of more than 36,000 members and supporters. Click here to learn how you can become a member.