Target eyes Maui site for fifth isle store

Target Corp. has committed to opening its fifth store in Hawaii and its first on Maui as the anchor of a planned shopping center in Central Maui near a collection of other big-box stores including Walmart and Kmart.

A 136,500-square-foot Target could open in 2014 if the project called Puunene Shopping Center is realized.

The shopping center is planned by Property Development Centers, the real estate development arm of Safeway.

Property Development Centers is working on a deal to buy 24 acres of land for the project from major Maui landowner Alexander & Baldwin Inc. A&B, as a policy, generally does not comment on or confirm land sales until they are under binding contracts or completed.

The developer, however, is actively seeking tenants to lease the balance of the center, which is designed with 273,480 square feet divided for roughly 20 retailers and restaurants.

Commercial real estate brokerage firm CBRE was soliciting interest in the center Thursday at the annual Hawaii conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

According to a site plan, it doesn’t appear that Safeway intends to build a store at the project. The supermarket chain already has stores nearby in Kahului and Kihei. There also is a Safeway in Lahaina, and the company is building a store in Wailuku scheduled to open next year.

Grant Howe, a commercial real estate broker on Maui not involved in the Puunene Shopping Center project, said the plan appears to be a solid one that will give Target a long-sought presence on the Valley Isle in the growing Central Maui area.

"It’s a good location with synergy to the major big-box retailers on Maui," he said. "Target will be a good addition to our market."

The project site is adjacent to Home Depot and Walmart, and is not far from Kmart, Costco, Sports Authority and Lowe’s. A&B is asking $64 million for the land.

Safeway and Property Development Centers, which it formed in 2008, is an experienced retail developer in Hawaii. Most, but not all, shopping centers developed by the company nationwide feature a Safeway store.

Safeway’s first project in the state was Piilani Village Shopping Center in Kihei, Maui, in the late 1990s.

That was followed in 2007 with the Safeway-anchored Avenue Shops in Kapahulu on Oahu.

Safeway teamed up with Target to develop adjacent stores in Hilo that opened last year. Safeway also developed a retail complex and store in Makiki last year that replaced the company’s first Hawaii store built more than 40 years ago.

Property Development Centers has at least three projects pending in addition to the Puunene project: one in Ewa Beach that is under construction; one on Kauai nearing construction; and one in Kapolei, where the company has a contract to buy 11 acres near a Target store.