Second ground blessing set for DeBartolo and DHHL

Last time, football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice passed out signed footballs. This time, there will be a more traditional turning of dirt with Hawaiian digging sticks.

On Thursday, DeBartolo Development and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands will hold a ground blessing ceremony for the long-planned regional mall Ka Makana Ali‘i in East Kapo­lei. It will be the second such event in a little more than a year.

In January 2014 the Florida-based developer and local government officials hosted a blessing that included Hawaiian music, prayers and untying a maile lei. Rice, a friend of DeBartolo principals, was in town for the Pro Bowl and lent a hand to jazz up the event. Yet at that time, DeBartolo had not signed a lease to use the 67-acre site owned by DHHL.

DeBartolo and DHHL signed the lease in December, opening the way for construction to begin.

The Thursday event is described more as a groundbreaking, though a blessing is part of the schedule along with Hawaiian music, hula and speeches by local government officials.

A $285 million initial phase of the 1.4 million-square-foot complex will include about 750,000 square feet of retail, dining, entertainment and hotel space scheduled to be completed by late 2016.

The center’s list of confirmed tenants includes department store Macy’s as well as H&M, Forever 21, AT&T, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, Consolidated Theatres and Hawaii’s first Hampton Inn & Suites.

The project is expected to generate 3,000 jobs during construction and 6,500 permanent full-time jobs. DHHL also is set to collect base rent totaling $400 million plus tenant percentage rent that could amount to another $400 million over 65 years. The lease also can be extended to 85 years, putting DHHL revenue over $1 billion.

DeBartolo and DHHL have been working on Ka Makana for nine years, after the agency selected the developer in 2006 through a competitive bid process. The mall’s opening was initially forecast for 2009, but lease negotiations and economic turmoil upset that timing.