Gas, retail site to reintroduce doughnut chain

A former industrial site near Honolulu Airport is slated to soon become a destination for doughnuts, coffee, pancakes, snacks and gasoline as part of a retail development project that will re-establish Dunkin’ Donuts in Hawaii after a more than 10-year absence.

Aloha Petroleum Ltd. held a ceremony Tuesday for starting construction on the project, which also includes an IHOP restaurant, a Shell gas station and an Aloha Island Mart convenience store.

The more than $5 million project on Paiea Street, which is a side entry and exit road for the airport, is expected to be done in June or July.

The collection of retail uses grew out of an effort by Aloha Petroleum to find a new gas station site near the airport after a nearby Shell station closed a few years ago to make way for airport expansion.

“It’s a very unusual and exciting development for us,” Richard Parry, Aloha Petroleum president and CEO, said at the ceremony.

Parry said the site on Paiea Street between Koapaka and Ualena streets appealed to his company for a new gas station, but the roughly 1.4-acre site was too big for just that. So the company connected with other businesses that were looking for expansion opportunities, and the national franchiser for Dunkin’ Brands and a Hawaii franchisee for IHOP signed on.

Aloha Petroleum is leasing the land from local landowner Loyalty Development and is developing the property. The fuel company will own and operate the Dunkin’ store along with the gas station and convenience store.

Union MAK Corp., the IHOP franchisee, is developing its restaurant between the convenience store and the Dunkin’ shop on a parcel subleased from Aloha Petroleum.

The IHOP restaurant is slated to be about 4,000 square feet with 154 seats and about 125 employees.

“We’re glad to be here,” said Khokon Haque, Union MAK vice president of operations. “We needed something by the airport.”

The Dunkin’ shop is designed to be about 2,000 square feet with around 35 seats and a drive-thru. About 40 employees will staff the store.

Peter Green, director of operations for Dunkin’ Brands, said the company can’t wait to bring its line of coffee drinks and doughnuts back to Hawaii through Aloha Petroleum. “We couldn’t think of better partners,” he said.

Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Brands, which also is the franchiser of Baskin-Robbins ice cream shops, announced in May that Aloha Petroleum signed an agreement to open 15 Dunkin’ stores statewide as a franchisee operator.

Dunkin’ previously operated in Hawaii through a franchisee who went to prison for tax evasion and ceased business more than 10 years ago.

Aloha Petroleum, a subsidiary of Sunoco LP, operates approximately 100 Shell, Aloha and Mahalo gas stations and 46 Aloha Island Marts, four Menehune Food Marts and two Subways in Hawaii.

Some of the envisioned Dunkin’ stores are expected to be developed within Aloha convenience stores, at shopping malls or at stand-alone sites.

Parry said the next Dunkin’ store could be at Kapolei Commons if lease negotiations are fruitful. He also said there is room within a Shell convenience store in Kailua.