Haseko plans retail village around lagoon at Ewa Beach development

The developer of a residential and resort community in Ewa Beach has decided what it wants to anchor much of its 52-acre man-made lagoon, and it is a retail village that looks as if it was built over a century stretching from Hawaii’s plantation era to today.

Haseko Development Inc. planned to announce today a $300 million retail development project it expects to begin building next year and opening between late 2019 and 2020 as part of its Hoakalei Resort and neighboring Ocean Pointe communities.

The project, which has yet to be named, won’t be a traditional mall, shopping center, resort retail complex or any other typical shopping and entertainment venue, according to the company.

“I don’t know of anything like it,” said Lawrence Caster, Haseko’s director of retail development. “We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what this thing should be like. It’s going to be awesome.”

Haseko’s retail village will encompass 215,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space for 110 tenants spread over 26 building clusters concentrated largely at the mauka edge of the lagoon. The whale’s tail-shaped piece of land originally was created as a breakwater to diffuse wave energy from the entrance of a boat marina before the developer decided in 2011 to convert the excavated body of water for use as a recreational lagoon.

The amount of leaseable space in the project is about the same as Waikele Premium Outlets and less than the roughly 300,000-square-foot Royal Hawaiian Center and the new 345,000-square-foot International Market Place.

Vision for village

Seven major restaurants, a specialty market and health club and spa are planned as anchor tenants around the village, which will feature a boardwalk lined with shops, a park-like “town center” entryway and a multilevel outdoor dining terrace adjacent to the lagoon where people can kayak, paddleboard, swim and lounge on sandy shores.

There also will be about 950 parking spaces, a rooftop garden for group events and a bridge from the retail village to the shoreline where a landscaped pedestrian trail will be created between Oneula Beach Park and White Plains Beach.

Dovetailing with the retail development will be an initial increment of visitor accommodations Haseko plans to develop fronting the lagoon it has dubbed Wai Kai. The developer is permitted to build 950 hotel, timeshare or vacation condominium units. At Ocean Pointe and Hoakalei, Haseko is close to finishing the last of 4,850 homes.

The retail village, according to Caster, will have a unique look with buildings near the entry designed to look like they were built around 1920 amid a bustling sugar cane plantation. Other buildings will reflect a progression of architectural design in Hawaii up to the present.

“The idea of the overall project is it looks like its been developed over a long period of time,” he said. “All the buildings are going to be different.”

The architectural work is being done by Honolulu- based G70 and Seattle- based CallisonRTKL. Concepts for merchant mix and strategy were created by Kentucky-based J. Richard Hill & Co., which has been involved with projects that include redeveloping New York’s Coney Island and retail components of luxury resorts, water parks and urban areas.

Restaurant interest

Caster said Haseko already has signed lease agreements for some restaurants to be operated by gourmet chefs, but he declined to name any tenants or say how much of the project is leased now. He said many prospective tenants will want to wait until construction is underway before committing to space.

Sharene Saito Tam, a Haseko vice president, said the company is aiming for a tenant mix that appeals to Oahu residents and tourists both within and outside of Haseko’s master-planned community.

“Think about what the entertainment and dining options are out on that side (Leeward Oahu),” she said. “This has so many more choices. We are really trying to make the effort to see that we provide something of interest to all of those different groups of people.”

Stephany Sofos, a local retail real estate analyst, said it’s hard to predict what kind of appeal the project will have without knowing specific tenants, but she said she expects Haseko’s project will be mostly a resort community center and something that attracts Leeward residents.

“That area is starving for entertainment, restaurants and retail,” she said. But she added that retail on Oahu is very competitive, and that bad traffic getting into and out of Ewa Beach is a deterrent to some consumers.

“I think people will venture down to see it,” she said, “but will it become a two- or three-time-a-week place to shop? The jury’s out. But for the (surrounding community) it’ll be a great thing.”

Sofos said Haseko’s project has elements that remind her of Kaanapali, where retail complex Whalers Village exists among hotels and vacation condos but also attracts local residents.

Caster said Haseko believes the lagoon activities, tenant mix and design of what the company is calling an “experiential marketplace” will make it stand out as a strong attraction. “This is meant to be much more of a place where you come to hang out,” he said.