Parking pains, confusion irk shoppers

The closure of two levels of parking adjacent to the now-vacant Sears department store at Ala Moana Center is causing maddening traffic congestion for many shoppers.

An estimated 2,000 parking stalls were blocked off earlier this month when the $572 million redevelopment of the largest shopping complex in Hawaii began.

"It’s a nightmare now. The parking’s crazy," said Kalau Jones, 42, a Kahala resident who was at the center Tuesday with his two daughters. "I think they took away too many stalls. It took forever (to find parking)."

Besides barricades around the parking area on the Ewa end of the mall, the center has permanently closed the Piikoi street level entrance, while the Kona street entrance is shut daily from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and intermittently through the day, according to Ala Moana’s website. The Piikoi ramp to the mall level remains open, though vehicles are required to turn left into the mauka-Ewa parking structure or go straight in the Diamond Head direction. There are also detours and other blocked parking stalls around the center.

Representatives of Ala Moana declined to comment Tuesday beyond a traffic update urging shoppers to use entrances on Ala Moana Boulevard and Atkinson Drive.

Mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. is demolishing the 340,000-square-foot Sears store to expand the mall to Piikoi Street. The project is expected to be completed in November 2015. General Growth is also adding another five levels of parking on the mauka side of the center.

"It’s so busy and so crowded, and it’s hard to find parking, too, so it takes a while just to get in the mall to shop," said Wai­anae resident Chelcey Guerrero, 20, who goes there every two weeks. "A lot of the other entrances are also blocked off, so we had to turn all the way around and U-turn somewhere else just to get into the parking lot. It’s frustrating and time-consuming just being able to find parking."

Ala Moana is the main retail center for Hono­lulu resident Noe Coelho, 42, and her family, who shop there at least three times a month. Now they avoid both the stores and parking at the Sears wing of the mall.

"It sucks. It’s very difficult to maneuver to the place that you want to actually shop at. It just takes more time and it’s kind of a hassle," she said. "It’s irritating ’cause it seems like it keeps changing so once you kind of figure out how to turn one way, then it changes the next time you come. I’m sure it’ll eventually be worth it, but right now it’s just bothersome."

The project that is expanding the Sears space to 650,000 square feet will include the first Bloomingdale’s in Hawaii and other large retailers and restaurants, as well as 200,000 square feet of space for smaller businesses. Sears, one of the original anchor tenants when Ala Moana opened in 1959, laid off 327 workers and displaced more than a dozen small independent businesses when it closed its flagship store June 2.

Ala Moana Center, which attracts 42 million shoppers annually and generates sales in excess of $1,400 per square foot, also is reconfiguring Centerstage and upgrading the surrounding street-level shops.

The first phase of the street-level renovation project is open, including expanded restrooms, renovated common areas and new stores. The second phase will open in November and include the new Centerstage, customer service area and additional tenant spaces.

Another construction project, a 23-story residential condominium atop the Nordstrom parking garage, is expected to be completed by late 2014.

Janis Honda, 49, who lives in Pauoa, said for now the increased congestion won’t deter her from her typical shopping trips of four to five times a week, though that might change during the frenzied holiday season.

"It’s a little stressful," she said. "You just know that that’s just part of (the redevelopment). I hope they get it done before the holidays ’cause I don’t even know if I’m going to come here for the holidays. To tell you the truth, it’s going to be very scary."