Parkway Shops Kapolei. Outlets at Kapolei Commons. Ka Makana Ali’i.
These are all shopping centers planned in the greater Kapolei region that would, if built, add a ton of retail to Oahu’s envisioned Second City. Now a major area landowner is suggesting the addition of even more stores.
D.R. Horton, the developer of the master-planned Ho’opili community slated for 11,750 homes in East Kapolei, is trying to sell 38 acres of its 1,554-acre project site and envisions the parcel as perhaps a big-box retail center.
Horton, which anticipates getting county approval to rezone the site for community business use by mid-2015, included a schematic design in a sales brochure that sketches out a complex with 535,000 square feet of retail space and 2,110 parking stalls.
The developer has dubbed the site Ho’opili Gateway and describes it as a "unique opportunity to acquire property in the path of progress."
The site borders the H-1 freeway and Kualakai Parkway but is separated from other Ho’opili land by a large parcel of farmland owned by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and intended for commercial and possibly light industrial development along with a park-and-ride facility for the city’s planned rail line.
Cameron Nekota, a vice president with the local Schuler Division of Texas-based Horton overseeing Ho’opili, said the site’s disconnection from contiguous Ho’opili land suited it for separate development. Utility infrastructure that leads up to the property will allow quicker development, he added.
"We got a lot of inquiries about it," he said.
Horton retained commercial real estate firm Colliers International to solicit buyers for the property. The list price is $33 million.
The developer said a growing population base that includes expansion of the University of Hawaii West Oahu, more Department of Hawaiian Home Lands subdivisions and 5,800 homes in Ho’opili’s first phase is projected to increase the number of people in the Kapolei region by about 30,000 to about 137,000 by 2025. A rail station will be within a quarter-mile of the site.
However, there’s a lot of competition among developers trying to add more shopping options for Kapolei’s current and future residents.
The biggest planned retail center among them is Ka Makana Ali’i, a long-delayed regional mall by Florida-based DeBartolo Development LLC.
DeBartolo plans to break ground later this year on a 700,000-square-foot first phase with 75 retailers and restaurants including Macy’s and H&M along with a cinema and a hotel. Opening is projected for 2016. A future phase would bring the mall to 1.4 million square feet, including 200,000 square feet of office space.
Initially, plans for Ka Makana were announced in 2006 and an opening was forecast for 2009.
Another major retail project is the expansion of Kapolei Commons, a 357,000-square-foot center anchored by Target that is slated to add a 260,000-square-foot collection of outlet stores.
The MacNaughton Group, a local development firm that opened Kapolei Commons in 2009, announced in 2010 that the expansion through a partnership with California-based outlet mall developer Craig Realty Group would have initial stores opening in late 2011 or early 2012. However, that timeline has been pushed back beyond 2015.
Todd Hedrick, MacNaughton Group leasing director, said progress is being made, with some outlet tenants signing leases. Meanwhile, Kapolei Commons also is adding a 25,000-square-foot TJ Maxx store slated to open in March and a Regal Cinemas slated to open by the end of next year.
Also in the retail development pipeline is a 121,777-square-foot center across the street from Kapolei Commons being led by a development arm of Safeway called Property Development Centers.
This project, named Parkway Shops Kapolei, was announced in 2012 with a projected opening last year. However, construction has not begun. A representative of Parkway Shops did not return a call seeking more information.
And at Ho’opili, Horton plans a large amount of retail concentrated along the Diamond Head end of its envisioned community in the first phase of development.
All four developers tout what they suggest will be strong rising demand for more retail in the area.
Jones Lang LaSalle, a broker representing Parkway Shops, mentioned in a leasing brochure that expected nearby residential development includes 4,000 homes around the UH campus, 4,200 homes at Makaiwa Hills and 2,500 homes at Kapolei West.
Craig Realty said in a brochure promoting the Outlets at Kapolei Commons that the amount of retail space per capita in Hawaii is about 10 percent below the national average.
Stephany Sofos, a local retail industry analyst, said Oahu is generally under-retailed, though it depends on the area.
Sofos said that in the Kapolei region, developers are largely trying to provide shopping conveniences for future residents, and that some plans such as Ka Makana Ali’i and Ho’opili Gateway appear very ambitious now.
"What they’re looking at is in 20 years you will have a Second City," she said.
Providing a community a broad range of retail — restaurants, supermarkets, small shops, fashion retailers, department stores, outlet stores, wholesale clubs and giant discount stores — reduces the need of commuting to shops in other areas.
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