A man in business attire on a stage speaks to a crowd seated at tables.
Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero gave the 2024 State of the Port address on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Port of Long Beach.

Sometime soon, the Port of Long Beach will open a new $19 million educational facility inside the port’s Downtown headquarters, and it will be named in honor of former state and federal representative Alan Lowenthal.

The Congressman Alan Lowenthal Trade and Education Center will include interactive displays and educational exhibits about the Long Beach port, how it operates and how it’s becoming more environmentally sustainable.

Port CEO Mario Cordero announced the facility’s name Wednesday during his 2024 State of the Port address; it’s expected to open by mid-year.

Before he retired last year, Lowenthal served on the Long Beach City Council and in the state Assembly and Senate, then won a seat in Congress in 2012 and completed five terms. He helped win funding and write bills to advance port projects, including initiatives to make the port greener.

The new center will feature a 3-D map table of the port, an LED video wall showing port operations, a timeline of key events at the port since its 1911 founding, and displays of new technology and other innovations, according to a May report to the Long Beach Harbor Commission.

The center will be on the port building’s third floor and will inform “business partners, visiting dignitaries, community and other invited guests” about port operations and capabilities, the May report said. Port spokesperson Lee Peterson said it’s still to be decided whether the space would be open to the general public.