Construction continues at Kapolei Mall

Ala Moana Center just added a bunch of new stores that are expected to make this holiday shopping season a good one for Hawaii’s largest mall. At this time next year, however, many Oahu shoppers likely will be flocking to a new collection of stores at what would be the first regional mall built on the island in more than 30 years.

The developer of the East Kapolei mall called Ka Makana Alii held a media tour Tuesday to relay what the public can expect a year from now on the 67-acre site.

The 725,000-square-foot first phase of the $500 million project is a little more than half complete.

“This time next year for the holiday season, you’re going to be walking through here doing your Christmas shopping,” said Rich Hartline, vice president of development for the mall’s creator, DeBartolo Development. “We’ve done a lot of work since groundbreaking in March.”

Behind construction fencing, concrete walls towering 30to 44 feet high are in place for a single-story Macy’s store with 103,000 square feet of space, while a two-story steel frame has been erected for a 26,000-square-foot H&M store.

Framing, floors, roofs and some walls are also done for much of the remaining retail space, which is mainly laid out in two L-shaped rows between which will run a pedestrian plaza. In the main parking lot containing most of the roughly 2,700 planned parking stalls, grading is largely done and some curbs are built.

Other pieces of the mall will include a six-story Hampton Inn & Suites hotel, where construction has begun on the third level, and an eight-screen Consolidated Theatres cinema, where walls are going up. A separate building with junior big-box retailers — similar to what exists at Waikele Center, whose tenants include Sports Authority, Petco and Office Max — is also part of phase one.

Ed Kobel, chief operating officer of Florida-based DeBartolo, said during the tour that the goal is to make Ka Makana a town center for West Oahu. “It’s a great opportunity for the trade area,” he said.

Hartline said traffic engineers hired by DeBartolo project that people living in Kapolei will cut back on trips to town on the H-1 to instead shop at Ka Makana when it opens. He also said the developer plans to arrange free shuttle transportation between the mall and a nearby city rail station and Ko Olina Resort & Marina.

To date, DeBartolo has announced the names of about 25 tenants that have inked leases for space at the mall, including Forever 21, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Banana Republic, Gap, Old Navy, Reyn Spooner, T&C Surf Designs, Zumiez, Walgreens, California Pizza Kitchen and Luibueno’s.

Kobel noted Tuesday that ice cream shop Nitrogenie and Magnolia Bakery, two tenants that opened last week in the new Ewa wing of Ala Moana, also will be in Ka Makana’s first phase, where there is space for about 100 tenants.

A second phase that would roughly double the size of the new mall to about 1.4 million square feet is envisioned to add another 50 or so tenants, including a second hotel and office space.

If both phases are built, Ka Makana would become the third-largest shopping center in Hawaii and the first regional mall built on Oahu in more than 30 years.

By comparison, Ala Moana Center is 2.8 million square feet, including the 660,000-square-foot addition that largely opened last week with the state’s first Bloomingdale’s and 34 other stores.

Oahu’s second-biggest mall, Pearlridge Center, is 1.2 million square feet. Ka Makana’s size is listed at 1.4 million square feet, but that includes the two hotels and about 200,000 square feet of office space.