WeePlay & Learn, a preschool, parent-tot play center and gym for moms, abruptly closed its doors Aug. 21 at Ward Warehouse following a dispute with the landowner.
The center, which opened a 12,000-square-foot location in Kakaako in August 2008, had 1,000 active members between its school and play center before landowner Howard Hughes Corp. took back the space, said WeePlay secretary and treasurer Brian Melzack. His wife, Mary, started the company in 2004 at the Koko Marina Center in Hawaii Kai.
David Striph, Hawaii senior vice president for Howard Hughes, said WeePlay "hadn’t been current for a long time" and owes "a significant amount of money to us."
Melzack said business had dropped in half over the past year following a Honolulu Star-Advertiser story in August 2014 about Ward Warehouse possibly being demolished this year to make way for residential condominium towers. As a result, WeePlay couldn’t pay its full rent, but continued to pay at least half and agreed to give back half the space, he said.
"We paid them rent every single month. It all would have balanced off if they worked with us," Melzack said, adding that the couple had been negotiating with Ward up until a few weeks ago. "We were stunned. We thought we had an arrangement as of Aug. 14. We felt that the landlord was being totally, completely unreasonable. The place is going to be demolished in six months’ time. WeePlay was an amazing organization: 10,000 families have passed through our doors. We had families that came to us every single day. Kids grew up with WeePlay."
WeePlay, whose clients are between 3 months and 5 years old, sells day passes and membership packages by month or year and eventually will refund customers after an audit of the books, Melzack said. Play center sessions cost between $5 and $18 per visit, depending upon the package purchased. The business had four employees after business dropped, and about a dozen at its peak, he said.
The center also offered exercise classes for mothers and launched a preschool in 2010. WeePlay is negotiating for another location, Melzack said, though the company has donated between $20,000 and $25,000 worth of equipment to Queen Emma Preschool.
Melzack said the landlord informed tenants of a March target date to demolish Ward Warehouse. However, Striph said the company hasn’t determined a demolition date, which depends upon condo sales.
"We feel so sad. We feel so bad but it happened so suddenly," Melzack said. "The landlord didn’t have to do this. In the greater scheme of things, we were a pebble on the beach … for Howard Hughes. There’s no hope they can lease our space. It’s second-floor space. It didn’t make any sense at all."
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / 2010