Ala Moana Center today announced plans for a huge expansion that includes a 450-room hotel, an 18-screen theater complex and a major theme restaurant.
The huge project, scheduled
By Rick Daysog and Peter Wagner
to start next year, is expected to
provide hundreds of new jobs
Star-Bulletin staffThe state's largest shopping center said Virgin Entertainment Group Inc. has signed a letter of intent for a 3,500-seat theater complex and a Virgin Megastore, a music retailer. The center also has received letters of intent from restaurant operators Rainforest Cafe and the Cheesecake Factory.
The expansion will add 543,000-square-feet of entertainment retail space, which is equivalent to about a third of the center's 1.5 million-square-foot retail space.
Ala Moana officials gave no estimate on the building costs but said construction will begin next year and will take two years to complete.
The project will create hundreds of construction jobs and thousands of permanent jobs once it is completed, said Dwight Yoshimura, Ala Moana's general manager.
Today's announcement comes as Hawaii's retail industry is undergoing tremendous upheaval. Just as major mainland retailers have announced commitments to open new stores in the isles, many retailers here have been hard-hit by the downturn in spending by Japanese visitors.For instance, the state's largest and oldest department store, Liberty House, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
Yoshimura said that expansion underscores center owner D/E Hawaii Joint Venture's long-term view of the isles' retail environment.
"It's a statement by our ownership that they think Hawaii will come out of this slump and become a premier destination once again," Yoshimura said.
The new development will replace low-rise buildings on the block surrounded by Kapiolani Boulevard, Kona Street, Keeaumoku Street and the Ala Moana Pacific Center.
The site is about a block west of the recently opened Hawaii Convention Center and Ala Moana's owners hope to target conventioneers.
The entertainment complex will feature a circular atrium and will be connected to the main segment of Ala Moana by walkways that will be decorated with ocean motifs and a six-story waterfall.
The hotel will be built on top of the entertainment portion of the complex.
The shopping center unveiled its plans early this morning to about 160 center retailers. Later this morning, it held an extravagant news conference at the Ala Moana Hotel with a multimedia presentation that included strobe lights, sound effects, a video and two futuristic-looking, silver-suited men who pulled back drapes to reveal a scale model of the project.
The six-level retail-entertainment complex is just one of several major expansions planned by Ala Moana and nearby landowners.Neiman Marcus Group Inc. is scheduled to open a $43 million, 160,000-square-foot department store on the makai side of the center in September.
Nordstrom Inc. also plans to build a 200,000-square-foot department store at the mauka end of the center, across Keeaumoku Street from the new retail-entertainment complex.
Local marketing analyst Marty Plotnick said that the timing of the project is critical. If the complex were to open today, it probably would fail, he said. But once business from the convention center improves and the local economy rebounds, Ala Moana could see a huge benefit, said Plotnick, president of Creative Resources Inc.
"If we're not in a worldwide meltdown three years from now, it could be just right," said Plotnick.
Today's announcement comes as other major developers plan to build large retail complexes on Oahu. Victoria Ward Ltd. has announced plans for a $200 million, 800,000-square-foot retail entertainment complex on its Kakaako property.
The Ward project will be anchored by a 150,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue department store and a 40,000-square-foot FAO Schwarz toy store.
In Waikiki, developer Duncan MacNaughton and the Honu Group are building a $100 million shopping center called the Waikiki Promenade.
Completed in 1959, Ala Moana is one of the world's largest-open air shopping centers with more than 240 stores.
