Completion of the Park Lane luxury condominium on the makai side of Ala Moana Center surely will give its occupants a picturesque live-shop-dine-and-play lifestyle.

It also will provide a very different view for diners at Longhi’s restaurant.

For the past 13 years over breakfast, lunch or dinner, patrons’ view of the scenery has extended from the open-air restaurant all the way across Ala Moana Beach Park to the ocean.

Occupants of the makai-facing units in the seven-building, six-story Park Lane complex will be inheriting that view, having paid anywhere from $1.19 million to $28 million for the pleasure.

A spokeswoman for Ala Moana Center confirmed that Park Lane "will be the same height as Neiman Marcus, and all other buildings on the makai side of Kona Street."

The center does not have a rendering showing what Mall Level 2, where Longhi’s is, will look like following construction of Park Lane, she said.

In addition to the view-plane obstruction, a basic design tenet of Longhi’s also will be going away.

Center owner General Growth Properties plans to enclose and air-condition part of the restaurant, despite the late founder’s adamant stance that his restaurants be open-air.

"They approached me about it," said owner Charlie Longhi, "but it (the Park Lane condominium) is not going to be right up to the windows, it’s going to be set back quite a ways," he said. It won’t be an enclosure of the entire restaurant.

You have to understand that the patriarch of the family owned restaurant business, Bob Longhi, was passionate about his restaurants and was known for being outspoken.

Having had the pleasure of interviewing the late Longhi over the years, the conclusion that he would have blown a gasket at the enclosure proposal and loss of such a prime and idyllic view was unavoidable.

Charlie Longhi laughed at the characterization.

"My dad was pretty cool about stuff," he said, and shared one of those simple-but-complicated life lessons from his father.

"Charlie," the elder Longhi said, "the hardest thing in life is letting something go, and the easiest thing in life, is letting something go."

"Words to live by," Charlie Longhi said.

Longhi’s won’t be letting go of its lease, however. "We have a deal with them," he said of General Growth.

The enclosure and the obstruction caused by Park Lane is "going to be a bit of a change, but right now, we’re embracing it."

"At least through November, we’ll have the same view."

Dealing with obstructions has become familiar since all the construction relating to Ala Moana’s Ewa Wing expansion began, given all the changes to how customers in cars can access the center’s various levels.

Access to the Mall 2 Level, where Longhi’s is located, is wide open, Longhi said.

"People don’t realize you can still access our restaurant from the ramp." 

"We’ve got the best parking at Ala Moana, with access from east-bound or west-bound lanes of Ala Moana Boulevard."

"It’s beautiful, you go right up the ramp to free valet parking," or self-parking, he said.

Despite the construction, "I have customers … who come in every day," he said. "They want me to stay, and I have a lot of great local families relying on me," he added, referring to his employees.

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On the Net:

» longhis.com

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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.