Honolulu’s Old Spaghetti Factory will relocate to Aloha Tower Marketplace from its home of 38 years at Ward Warehouse.

The Oregon-based, family-owned and operated restaurant chain has been looking for a new space since Howard Hughes Corp. announced plans in 2014 to demolish most of Ward Warehouse as part of a broader redevelopment.

“We are very, very excited that we found a new home,” said Ryan Durrett, director of marketing for OSF International Inc. “We’ve been in Honolulu now since 1978 … and it’s been a great 38 years and that’s why, during this process, we’ve wanted to make sure that we worked as hard as we could to stay and find a location we could be in for another 38 years.”

In its new digs in the former Chai’s space, the Old Spaghetti Factory will offer outdoor seating, a first for the Honolulu restaurant.

Its current 9,000-square-foot space offers seating for a little more than 300 guests. The interior space it will move into offers about 8,500 square feet, but that doesn’t include the outdoor seating, said Sam Moku, vice president of university relations for Hawaii Pacific University, which owns the complex.

His HPU colleagues also are excited about the incoming tenant and are honored that OSF International chose HPU’s Aloha Tower site, he said. Having the restaurant on campus, where 277 dorm spaces are at capacity, will be great for the students and their families, and also for the broader community, he said.

“Adding the Old Spaghetti Factory as part of our family down at Aloha Tower will definitely draw a good energy … and I definitely believe they will make Aloha Tower and our campus a lot more lively,” Moku said. The restaurant will validate guest parking, he said.

Jo McGarry, restaurant specialist and real estate adviser with Pacific Property Group Hawaii, calls the “front and center” spot at Aloha Tower a great fit, and had worked toward the deal for two years.

Designwise, the new location “will have the look and feel that our guests have come to know in any of our Spaghetti Factory locations, with the antique designs and beautiful colors,” Durrett said. The new location will have a trolley car for guests to dine in, just like at Ward Warehouse. Additionally, the new space will offer two banquet rooms.

The addition of Old Spaghetti Factory with its broad appeal will help the complex, said retail analyst Stephany Sofos. “It is such an icon. The fact is that people will come to it,” including students and local families, for its “very reasonably priced food.”

“So many people are very passionate about them staying here,” she said. “I’m glad they’re going to stay in Hawaii. … I think it’s going to become a destination location,” as it has been at Ward Warehouse all these years, she said.

As of September there was no definitive timeline for the redevelopment of Ward Warehouse, and the earliest that tenants would be affected would be July, according to Todd Apo, Howard Hughes vice president of community development.

It is unclear whether the restaurant’s new location will be completed to allow for a seamless transition between locations, as logistics still are in the early stages, Durrett said.

The restaurant is projected to open at Aloha Tower in 12 to 18 months, Moku said, and will join longtime tenants including Gordon Biersch and Hooters, and newer tenants such as the Nashville nightclub.