AltaSea, one of the most ambitious and costly projects ever planned for San Pedro’s waterfront, now has a $20 million matching pledge that is expected to provide a significant push toward beginning construction, it was revealed Wednesday.

The announcement was all part of a daylong celebration of the future 35-acre marine research center and campus that will be constructed on City Dock No. 1, adjacent to Warehouse 1 at 22nd and Miner streets.

The entire project is expected to cost $500 million — a daunting fundraising task — before it is completed.

Some $82 million already has been raised through contributions from the Port of Los Angeles and The Annenberg Foundation. Another $53.2 million will be needed by January 2017 for the first phase that will include sea-water laboratories, offices, a lecture hall and an interpretive center.

Wednesday’s announcement of the new matching funds could bring the project very close to meeting that first-phase goal.

Phase 1 is slated to be built from 2015-19.

“I’m pleased to announce I will match the next $20 million raised for AltaSea,” said Wallis Annenberg, president and CEO of the family foundation that has been a major partner in the AltaSea project.

The news was met with roaring cheers and applause.

Earlier, Annenberg said, “Today we are turning a corner to turn Los Angeles into a mecca for jobs, discovery and sustainability. We expect to create thousands of jobs and millions (of dollars) in economic activity and breakthroughs in research.”

Also on Wednesday, supporters unveiled signs that will name the portion of 22nd Street that leads into the project for Leonard J. Aube, executive director of the foundation.

In introducing Aube, who was managing director for Marineland of the Pacific in Rancho Palos Verdes from 1978-87, Annenberg said the honorary street designation was well deserved.

“It’s easy to take the Pacific Ocean for granted, but Len never has,” she said of Aube, a lifelong scuba diver and professional marine photographer. “I don’t think it’s any secret that Len has been battling an illness for some time and, to many, that would be debilitating and overwhelming. But not to Len. He gets up every day and works as hard as he can to touch the lives of others, and always with a smile on his face.”

Leonard J. Aube Way will run in front of what will someday be the project’s visitor center.

Aube was among the initial group that launched the vision for AltaSea, which was formally announced in June 2013.

“When this initially got started … we were just trying to figure out how to map this out, it had never really been done before,” Aube said.

Also attending the event was former port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, who first proposed the project that would bring together area universities in a research facility that would study the ocean.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told the audience that the project will serve as a gateway to the port and will be a “must see” destination for tourists and local residents alike.

Important research will come out of the center, he said, on issues such as climate change.

“San Pedro and Wilmington already are world famous for the (container shipping) port,” she said. “Soon (the port) will be known also as a leading center of sustainability in this country and one of the centers of sustainability in the world.”

AltaSea will be built in three construction phases that will fill 4,100 linear feet of waterfront dock and wharf space and provide 400,000 square feet of office space.

Plans include a public harbor promenade and cafe, a public park, and laboratories, all designed to bring together the interests of science, business and education.

Among the primary aims will be to discover new ways to harness the ocean’s energy.

“The ocean may be the most precious public resource we have, a life source unlike any other on the planet,” Annenberg said.