The prospects for Kapolei growing into a fully fledged second city are getting brighter.

With the economy recovering, retailers and restaurants have been added to Oahu’s "second city," with commercial development from Fort Weaver Road to the western stretches of Kapolei going forward. Leading the way is the Ka Makana Ali‘i regional mall in East Kapolei, which would be expanded into the island’s third-largest shopping center. It could break ground early next year, creating a potentially huge employment boon for the area. It’s a development that could help to fulfill the long-dormant promise of West Oahu as a place to "live, work, and play."

Plans for the open-air mall were announced seven years ago, but a projected 2009 opening failed due to lease problems and economic uncertainty. Now, Florida-based developer DeBartolo Development LLC announced it has more than tripled the project’s first phase to 700,000 square feet, including a department store, hotel, cinema and more than 50 retailers and restaurants. The planned second phase of Ka Makana would bring it to 1.4 million square feet, including a second hotel and another 200,000 square feet of office space. That compares with Ala Moana’s 2 million square feet and Pearlridge’s 1.2 million square feet. It will be Oahu’s first regional mall built in more than 30 years.

DeBartolo indicated two years ago that the initial phase would be more of a grocery-store anchored retail center on 18 acres with 25 other tenants because of the slow economy, but the economy has improved and Kapolei has grown. The first phase now is expected to include 75 tenants on 50 acres of the 67-acre project site, with 8,000 long-term jobs, making it the single largest job center in the area.

If realized, the project would add to employment options for the many bedroom communities on Oahu’s west side and keep more people living and working in the long-envisioned second city.

Ed Kobel, DeBartolo’s president and chief operating officer, said, "We’ve cranked it up because of the demand from tenants." The first stage could open in fall 2015.

The plan follows extraordinary commercial development in the area in recent years. Little more than a decade has passed since the 65,000-square-foot Safeway-anchored shopping center went into business at Kapolei at the foot of Makakilo. Since then, the potential 400,000-square-foot Target-anchored Kapolei Commons has opened at the west end of Kapolei near Costco and soon is planned for construction of the second phase.

Other recent developments in the area include city and state office buildings, a state Judiciary complex, a new campus for the University of Hawaii at West Oahu and the Salvation Army Kroc Center. Meanwhile, housing has been erected in Department of Hawaiian Home Lands subdivisions and is planned throughout the area; DHHL owns the Ka Makana Ali‘i land and will lease it to DeBartolo for $140 million over the first 25 of 65 years.

The rail system connecting East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium is scheduled to open in 2017 and to Ala Moana in 2019, adding a vital travel link between Kapolei and urban Honolulu.

The concept of Oahu’s second city was envisaged more than three decades ago, and the parts finally are coming together. A shopping mall the size of Ka Makana Ali‘i is an important ingredient.