It will be with a tinge of sadness that we will say goodbye to Waikiki’s famously kitschy International Market Place — at least as we’ve known it.

Gone will be those carts jammed together in the open air, loaded with shell lei, plumeria hair clips and other souvenirs sold by street vendors to budget-minded tourists. The 170 stores, carts and kiosks that sell everything from pearls to plate lunches will disappear, along with the 570 jobs they support.

The aging Miramar Hotel, Waikiki Town Center and other buildings, some dating back to 1956, will be replaced.

If all goes as planned, a redevelopment project will transform this casual, slightly seedy shopping arcade into something more typical of Waikiki’s gentrification — three levels of upscale shopping, entertainment and restaurants, anchored by a glittering Saks Fifth Avenue store and tastefully landscaped promenade.

Economically the plan makes sense, at least on paper. The International Market Place occupies part of nearly six acres of choice Kalakaua Avenue property, and its income-earning potential got a major boost with the June 14 announcement that Saks had committed to serve as the anchor tenant.

This was good news for the Queen Emma Land Co., which owns the land, and its parent, The Queen’s Health Systems. Queen’s depends on revenue from its lands — bequeathed to it by Queen Emma — to operate its health care facilities throughout the islands. Those facilities include the badly needed The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu, which will replace the defunct Hawaii Medical Center West.

According to the project’s developer, Taubman Centers Inc. of Michigan, the project will have about 355,000 square feet of gross leasable area, nearly double the current area.

Envisioned are about 60 retail spaces and five to seven restaurants, generating as many as 2,500 full- and part-time jobs, according to Taubman.

If the deal is finalized, construction could begin at the turn of this year, with Saks opening in 2016.

Project plans include extensive landscaping and open space, with courtyards, water features and canopy trees, including the preservation of the "exceptional" banyan tree near Kalakaua Avenue. It promises to be a sparkling new addition to the Waikiki street scene, following in the footsteps of the Outrigger’s Beach Walk and the renovated Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.

All in all, it’s the better option for the location. But it’s worth noting that Waikiki will lose one of the last remnants of its colorful, less-refined past. The International Market Place dates back to Ernest Gantt, also known as Don the Beachcomber or Donn Beach, a World War II veteran and restaurateur who built his office in the giant banyan tree on the property in the 1950s. Since then, the Market Place has evolved organically, with live music, bars, cheap food and small-time entrepreneurs haggling for a buck — a lively, ramshackle urban bazaar. For some, it will be missed.