Aikahi Park Shopping Center to get $18M overhaul
COURTESY ALEXANDER & BALDWIN
The $18 million renovation of Aikahi Park Shopping Center includes improvements to landscaping, walkways and the parking lot, along with the creation of new outdoor seating areas.
Aikahi Park Shopping Center is slated for an $18 million face lift starting later this year.
The owner of the 48-year-old Kailua retail complex, Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc., announced the renovation plan today.
Improvements planned include upgrades to landscaping, walkways and the parking lot. A&B also said it intends to create new outdoor seating areas and provide veterinary hospital Feather & Fur, an existing tenant, with room to expand by using part of a former movie theater space.
Overall, A&B said it envisions transforming the neighborhood retail center into something similar to the Lau Hala Shops retail complex in Kailua it produced from a former Macy’s department store.
The planned improvements at Aikahi Park, which are projected to be completed late next year, also are intended to help A&B raise occupancy at the 98,000-square-foot complex. About 21% of the tenant space at the center is vacant, which is the highest vacancy rate out of 21 Hawaii retail properties owned by A&B.
A&B is the second-largest retail real estate owner in Hawaii. Its other retail holdings include Pearl Highlands Center, Manoa Marketplace, Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center, Waipio Shopping Center, Kunia Shopping Center and Waianae Mall.
The company said it has sought input on what area residents want to see at Aikahi Park, and will work to produce an enhanced experience.
“We understand that Aikahi Park Shopping Center is a mainstay for many of our neighboring residents, and we’ve heard their ‘wish list’ for shops and services they’d like to see at the center,” Lance Parker, A&B chief real estate officer, said in a statement. “We believe these planned improvements will attract both new and improved retail and service options for Windward Oahu residents.”
A&B acquired the land under Aikahi Park in 2013 as part of purchasing much of the commercial property in Kailua and other real estate from Kaneohe Ranch and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation for $373 million. In 2015, A&B paid $1.6 million to end a ground lease with the center’s operator nine years early so A&B could have operational control of the property anchored by Safeway.
