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It’s a retail bazaar now full of T-shirt and kitschy souvenir shops, but the coming redevelopment of Waikiki’s famed International Market Place is going to be largely defined by high fashion.
The owner and development partner of the retail complex in the middle of Waikiki announced Friday that Saks Fifth Avenue has committed to anchor the new, roughly $350 million International Market Place slated to start construction around the turn of the year and open in 2016.
The tentative deal, if realized, will establish the first full-line department store in Hawaii for Saks, a luxury retailer that operates a discount Off 5th outlet store at Waikele Center.
Saks anchoring the new International Market Place will redefine a landmark that generations of vacationing shoppers and kamaaina have come to know as a place to go for a relatively inexpensive variety of low-end fashion — from T-shirts, aloha apparel and swimwear to magnets, faux flowers and energy bracelets.
New York-based Saks features high fashion by designers including Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Manolo Blahnik and Salvatore Ferragamo. Specific items for sale include a Gucci iPhone cover for $95, a Marc Jacobs nylon backpack for $198 and shoes by various designers topping $1,000.
The anchor store is slated to occupy 80,000 square feet on three levels of the new open-air complex, or a little less than 25 percent of the roughly 360,000 square feet of space planned for retailers, restaurants and entertainment.
Steve Sadove, chairman and chief executive officer of Saks Inc., said in a statement that the company is delighted by the opportunity to open a full-line store in the heart of Waikiki.
“We look forward to offering the residents of and tourists to the area a great assortment of distinctive merchandise and our exemplary customer service, showcased in a beautiful new store within the International Market Place,” he said.
Landing an anchor tenant helps move the long-planned Waikiki project forward, particularly with the effort to attract other tenants to fill out 60 retail spaces and five to seven restaurants envisioned for the remade complex. However, the deal still needs to be finalized between marketplace owner Queen Emma Land Co., Michigan-based mall developer Taubman Centers Inc. and San Francisco-based real estate investment firm Coastwood Capital Group LLC.
Queen Emma Land, an affiliate of The Queen’s Medical Center, and Taubman announced the Saks commitment Friday, three years after Taubman was selected by the landowner to pursue the redevelopment project.
“We are excited to take another step forward in this process,” Eric Martinson, president of Queen Emma Land, said in a statement.
Stephen Kieras, Taubman’s senior vice president of development, said in a statement that steady progress is being made through the due diligence and feasibility stages of the project.
“Taubman and Queen Emma Land Co. look forward to completing the process in the near future,” he said.
International Market Place is one of Queen Emma Land’s most valuable real estate assets. The landowner is counting on dramatically higher income from the redevelopment project to provide enhanced long-term revenue supporting its health care operations.
Saks operates 42 department stores in 22 states, as well as five internationally licensed stores and 66 Off 5th outlet stores.
The luxury retailer previously had plans to open a full-line department store in Hawaii as an anchor for a planned mall to replace Ward Warehouse announced in 1997. But in 1999, Saks pulled out of the project, which was later canceled, after disappointing store results and a re-evaluation of expansion plans.
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Correction: A previous version of this story stated an incorrect year for the Saks store opening.
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