Refresh Waikiki but don’t ruin it

Old-timers are more right than they know in lamenting the International Market Place’s closure, in the heart of Waikiki, as the end of an era. One of the very last remnants of another time in our Honolulu, the IMP had withstood a quarter-century of shutdown threats but finally succumbed last week — the first step toward creation of a new high-luxe epicenter in Waikiki. It’s a transformation that will churn the hotel industry, labor markets and state economy and, for better or worse, raise ever higher the bar for premium living and hospitality in Hawaii.

At the IMP, change will be dramatic. The 56-year-old open-air, kitschy shopping bazaar will be replaced by an upscale, glitzy entertainment and retail complex anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue. Three stories high on Kalakaua Avenue and seven stories on Kuhio Avenue, the concrete canyon effect threatens.

Still, conceptual drawings show tree-lined promenades, courtyards and open-air decks, and it’s said that the iconic banyan tree will be incorporated into the project’s design. Such elements would go a long way to rejuvenate a property heavy with history but long underutilized. Landowner Queen Emma Land Co., after all, depends on revenues from its acreage to operate The Queen’s Health Systems facilities throughout the islands, so the local community will benefit from this sound financial decision.

But nothing happens in a vacuum, and it’s the raft of other high-end Waikiki property changes that’s fueling intrigue — and angst. Together, they herald the next seismic wave of change in Waikiki’s landscape, which includes:

» Just east of the IMP, a massive $500 million renovation and expansion of the aging Sheraton Princess Kaiulani will begin Aug. 1. Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts’ three-year project, the biggest reinvestment ever in a single Waikiki property, will include a new 350-foot condominium-hotel, the first new hotel in Waikiki since the 1980s.

» King’s Village, another low-rise vestige of Waikiki of yesteryear, is also slated for the wrecking ball. Developer BlackSand Capital is envisioning a luxury condo-hotel at the site, now a brick-lined hub of shops and eateries. The quaint village, built in 1972 to resemble Honolulu around 1900, sits across from the Princess Kaiulani — and provides some welcome open air in a densely towered area; the parcel is zoned at a maximum building height of 240 feet. As was the case of the IMP, critics are already decrying the village’s impending demise.

» BlackSand also is involved in buying and redeveloping the former Ohana Waikiki West, which is across Kuhio Avenue from the upcoming Saks store and complex. Like the IMP, it sits on acreage owned by Queen Emma Land Co.; plans in this leasehold deal call for upscaling the 659-room property.

When the new International Market Place complex opens in 2016, it will have created 1,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent ones. Tuesday’s resignation over the old IMP closure was in stark contrast to 1988, when an 11th-hour decision naming it as the new convention center site sent vendors in near-riot through the state Capitol. The decision later became moot — but that’s how passionately folks once felt about the Market Place.

Now, 25 years later, much has changed in Waikiki — in its density, visitors’ expectations, competition from elsewhere. The private sector’s confidence in reinvesting in the tourism hub is welcome — but it’ll come with a new host of questions about oversaturation, taxing of infrastructure, foreign influences and ultra-luxe living widening the gap between haves and have-nots.

Maturity in a global tourism destination, as in Waikiki, means realizing the need to adapt, walking that fine line to refresh the experience without ruining it. That will require careful balancing, for the sake of visitors and residents alike.