KITV4-video

January 28, 2015

KITV4-article

January 27, 2015

Will Kailua's new Target store hurt local businesses?

By Ashley Moser

KAILUA, Hawaii —Just a little more than a month to go until Target opens its doors in Kailua. It will be the store’s sixth location in Hawaii, but will it fit with Kailua's local charm?

“It’s becoming less and less like the special Kailua we know and more generalized suburbia,” said Sarah Connelly, a Kailua resident.

Connelly says she longs for the days when her neighborhood felt more like a small beach town, but there's nothing small about a 130,000 square foot Target on Hahani Street.

Store owners across from the new megastore say their biggest concern is traffic.

“I think when they have their grand opening it’s going to be a nightmare. There are going to be so many cars coming here,” said Leigh Tonai, CEO of Hawaiian Island Creations. "During the holidays this place is a very hard place to maneuver. It’s gridlock over here.”

Target officials say the layout of their new parking lot marks an improvement over the last tenant at that location.

“We reduced the in and out entrance from five down to two. The first one is the intersection and the second one is a right in and a right out only,” said Drew Santos, Target Kailua Store Manager.

The company partnered with the City and County to add a new traffic light at the intersection of Hahani and Hekili Streets. They say this it will make for a safer area for pedestrians and drivers.

Store officials say they're trying to maintain a local feel inside.

“We have approximately 30 local vendors that Target has sought after to allow us to bring a greater partnership within the community and to allow great local products to be sold in our store,” said Santos.

But some residents ask about the effects on local businesses outside the store.

“It’s obviously drawing business away from some local vendors, but maybe with the people coming to Target they’ll notice the nearby local business as well,” said Connelly.

“Even if it’s only like 5 percent of the people come by, that’s going to increase our traffic for sure. I’m sure the whole east side community is going to come visit Target,” Tonai said.

The Kailua Target is opening up to the public March 4.

StarAdvertiser-article

January 24, 2015

Target sets Kailua site's opening day for March

By Kristen Consillio

Target Corp. is preparing to open its long-awaited Kai­lua store March 4.

The Minneapolis-based retailer has nearly completed construction of the 130,000-square-foot store at 345 Hahani St. after a delay of more than two years, according to a Target spokes­woman.

The Kailua store, originally scheduled to open in July 2012, has met opposition from a vocal group of residents who fear the big-box retailer will change Kai­lua's small-town charm, bring more people into the quiet neighborhood and cause further traffic congestion.

The company has run into other development delays as well. It was forced to revise plans after an archaeological study discovered unidentified iwi kupuna, or Native Hawaiian skeletal remains.

Target has hired roughly 500 workers combined for the Kai­lua store and another location in Kahu­lui, also opening in March.

Jet Crash-video

Paul Brennan and Panel Discussion by Eye Witnesses to Marine Jet Crash On November 20, 1961

StarAdvertiser-article

December 30, 2014

Traffic woes in Lanikai soar during holiday

With the area beaches already causing daily jams, residents want some better solutions

By Leila Fujimori

When Janny Gibson's young son fell and broke his arm in their yard the Sunday before Christmas, she didn't call an ambulance.

Instead, the family jumped in their car and drove in the sluggish, tourist-laden traffic through their Lanikai neighborhood, served by a one-lane loop in and out.

"My poor son is crying and we're trying to get him to the hospital," she recalled. "Luckily, it was a day where there wasn't so much traffic."

It took only 45 minutes to get from their house to Kalapawai Market, 1.2 miles away, compared with the 90 minutes on Christmas Day, she said.

The Gibsons live next to Lanikai Beach, which consistently ranks high in national ratings, taking Trip­Advisor's top spot in March among U.S. beaches and No. 5 in the world by National Geographic in its "The 10 Best of Everything" book.

Christmas week seemed to hit Lanikai especially hard. On Christmas Day, hundreds of people at one point were stuck in a bumper-to-bumper snarl.

"It was a perfect storm of everybody off, good weather, and the roadway wasn't able to handle the amount of volume," said Kailua police Sgt. Brandon Yamamoto.

But some residents blame police officers for backing up traffic at the intersection of Kailua Road and Kalaheo Avenue near Kalapawai Market. They say police favor pedestrians crossing with kids and rental kayaks.

Special-duty officers hired by Alexander & Baldwin, owner of the strip mall where a kayak rental company and retailer Island Snow are located, were assigned to the spot on Christmas, but regular-duty police officers took over after they left, Yamamoto said.

"It's so congested, it's hard to alleviate everything in one smooth transition," Yamamoto said. "The best we can do, outside City Council action, is to control that one intersection to get people in and out."

He added: "The primary purpose of that was to make sure everybody gets through safely. The way the pedestrian law is written, all vehicles are mandated to stop for the pedestrian."

He said police can try to accommodate traffic better by waiting until a group of pedestrians has assembled, "rather than letting them cross one by one."

Ambulances have a particularly difficult time negotiating the Lanikai logjam.

"We didn't want to call an ambulance because we've seen what happens," Gibson said about the time their son broke his arm.

"We need help," she added. "This is horrible. We can't get out!"

Several problems plague the small Windward neighborhood.

Some residents can't get out because beachgoers park in their driveway.

An officer issuing citations Monday said most are for failure to park 4 feet from a driveway or 10 feet from a fire hydrant, or for parking at the end of a cul-de-sac.

He said calling a tow truck isn't a perfect solution because it requires temporarily blocking the roadway, adding to the morass.

A lack of public restrooms, showers or trash cans in private beach accesses add to residents' woes.

"They use my hose, ask to use my restroom," Gibson said. "We saw so many people using the bathroom in the bushes — and not just No. 1."

Debbie Pearce, 46, said: "It makes it hard to go about our daily activities. … Our biggest gripe is people not recognizing there is a bike lane" and parking in it. "You don't realize it until you're riding your bike and you have to go into the roadway."

Pearce added: "I've thought about it. I really don't see a solution that'll work. We can't stop people from coming into Lanikai. It's my favorite beach. I'm sure it's other people's, too. I don't think we have any more of a right to dictate what happens in Lanikai.

"By the same token, it is our front yard people are driving through," she said.

The city Department of Transportation Services director has met with concerned residents numerous times, but was unavailable for comment Monday.

At the request of Lanikai residents, the department has raised the fine for parking in bike lanes to $200 from $35, and painting "no parking" warnings in the bike path. The department also is getting "No Parking Here to Corner" signs installed on side streets.

MidWeek-article

December 3, 2014

Kainalu's 'Jet Crash Remembered' Tuesday

By MidWeek Staff

Dec. 7, 1941, is a date etched in the minds of most of us here in the Islands and across the nation. But unbeknownst to many area residents, 20 years after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, Kailua experienced its own aerial assault.

Kailua Historical Society will present “Kainalu’s Night of Horror: Jet Crash Remembered,” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 9 in the Kainalu Elementary School cafeteria. Admission is free.

In conjunction with the school’s 60th anniversary and the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing, Dr. Paul Brennan, president of the society, has assembled a panel of residents who witnessed the tragic crash that took the lives of the military aircraft’s pilot, 2nd Lt. William Wright, and 8-year-old Kainalu Elementary School student Steven Schmitz, whose parents and siblings were spared, although their home was demolished.

The presentation includes a video screening of the crash prepared by military historian David Trojan. Two Marine Skyhawk jets were involved in a midair collision, with one of them plunging down across Kawainui Marsh into the tranquil Kainalu neighborhood. It crashed at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 20, 1961, in the Kainalu Elementary schoolyard and left three homes burning in its wake, one in which that little boy slept. The disaster, of course, provoked quite a reaction, with news media and then-Gov. William F. Quinn rushing to the scene.

Kainalu Elementary School is located at 165 Kaiholu St. For more information about the program, call Brennan at 262-7316.

PacificBusinessNews-Article

November 19, 2014

Is Target expanding in Hawaii? Warehouse lease may be a sign

By Duane Shimogawa

Target Corp., which has four stores open in Hawaii — with two more opening on Maui and Oahu next year — recently leased out a 32,537-square-foot warehouse on Oahu to serve as a central distribution warehouse for all of its stores in the state.

Ken Simon, founder and president of Menehune Water Co., the owner of the warehouse that sits on a 44,007-square-foot lot in the Halawa industrial area of Aiea, confirmed the lease to PBN.

"We bought [the lease on the] property a few years ago, but did not expand enough to use it internally," he said.

The Queen Emma Land Co., the nonprofit affiliate of The Queen's Medical Center, owns the property, according to public records and a spokeswoman for Queen's.

Target, (NYSE: TGT) through a spokeswoman, confirmed to PBN that it has signed a lease for warehouse space in Hawaii, but said the company had nothing more to share at this time.

When asked if Target is expanding in Hawaii with more locations, the spokeswoman said that it has no additional details to share at this time besides opening two new locations in March 2015, one on Oahu and another on Maui.

The Minnesota-based retailer was recently issued a $600,000 building permit by the City and County of Honolulu for the warehouse facility.

Honolulu-based dck pacific construction is the general contractor for the build-out. Maude Omai, spokeswoman for dck, confirmed to PBN that the facility is a warehouse for Target.

Target's four stores in Hawaii are located in Hilo and Kona on the Big Island and in Salt Lake and Kapolei on Oahu.

The two Target stores scheduled to open in March are located in Kahului on Maui and in Kailua in Windward Oahu.

A Target store has also been rumored to open in the current Nordstrom space at Ala Moana Center after the department store moves to the Ewa Wing of the state's largest shopping mall, near the state's first Bloomingdale's store.

History of Kailua - Video

Kailua, Oahu History By Paul Brennan

PacificBusinessNews-article

August 5, 2014

Honolulu insurance agent buys Kailua vacant property primed for development

By Duane Shimogawa

A Honolulu insurance agent has purchased nearly 30,000 square feet of vacant, foreclosed property in Kailua in Windward Oahu for about $2 million that could be redeveloped as apartments, retail, offices or assisted-living facilities, PBN has confirmed with the new owner.
Scott LaRue, an independent insurance agent with Honolulu-based Atlas Insurance and owner of Kailua-based Highmark Capital LLC, told PBN that he made the purchase as an investment and still has not decided yet what to do with the property.
Scott Carvill, principal broker for Kailua-based Carvill Sotheby’s International Realty, represented the LaRue in the sale, while Kalani Schrader and Dana Peiterson, both of CBRE Inc. Hawaii, represented the seller, Beverly Ing Lee. Lee’s Uluniu-Maluniu LLC is listed as the previous owner, according to public records.
The two fee-simple lots, which are connected and are currently being used for parking, are located a block from Kuulei Road at the corner of Maluniu Avenue and Uluniu Street.
Together, the lots comprise of a little more than half an acre. The 18,360-square-foot Maluniu Avenue parcel is zoned for residential development and has a height limit of 25 feet. The 10,034-square-foot Uluniu Street lot is zoned for commercial, mixed-use opportunities and has a height limit of 40 feet.
The properties were being marketed as two lots that could’ve been purchased together or separately, according to marketing materials from CBRE, which also noted that priced together, the lots had an asking price of $2.1 million.

Other uses could include medical office and single-family homes.

StarAdvertiser-article

August 4, 2014

Kailua restaurant to serve last cheesesteaks Sept. 30

By Erika Engle

The roll in which a cheesesteak sandwich is served is key to the success or failure of the final product, and Pepper's Place in Kai­lua serves its cheesesteaks on genuine, Philadelphia-made Amo­roso rolls.

Not for much longer, though, as owners John and Carol Dee will be closing Sept. 30, having failed to extend their lease with landowner A&B Properties, a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin Inc.

A&B leased the space Pepper's has occupied, for about 14 years, to another tenant.

Fellow tenants in Kai­lua Shopping Center are upset and concerned about their futures as well, Carol Dee said, but none the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser reached were willing to speak on the record.

Alexander & Baldwin bought 70 percent of Kai­­lua's commercial real estate and 90 percent of its retail property from Kane­ohe Ranch and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation last year.

David Haverly, senior vice president of leasing for A&B Properties, said in a statement A&B Properties has completed lease renewals with 10 local tenants since the beginning of the year and is "actively working with several others."

"Inevitably there will be some changes in tenant mix over time as we seek to provide a great customer experience. We are actively evaluating each of our shopping centers and tenants, and engaging in discussions with tenants as their leases come up for renewal," he said.

The Dees said they reached out to A&B in February but were told "we can't do anything right now" by a longtime official of Kane­ohe Ranch who transitioned to A&B.

"And then it just kept getting put off," Carol Dee said. "We never imagined they'd give the shop away."

At a June meeting the Dees learned a prospective tenant had offered A&B double the rent that Pepper's had been paying. "I guess we have to decide whether we're going to pay double rent or move," Carol Dee said she told A&B at that time.

The Dees went to a meeting with A&B a week ago thinking they would finally be negotiating a new lease to succeed the one that expires Aug. 15.

The agent "apologized, saying the situation ‘with our lease was not handled very well' but our space was already leased," Carol Dee said.

He told them it had happened a while ago.

"He asked us what our plans were," she said. She told the A&B representative they had no plans "as this came as quite a shock to us."

During the July 28 meeting, the agent reminded them of the more than twice-as-big, 900-square-foot space available on Hekili Street they'd previously been offered, Carol Dee said.

Any move would be akin to starting all over again, she said, but the Hekili Street location also includes a risk of getting, at any time, a 180-day notice to vacate for redevelopment of the building, via a clause in the lease.

The "clause was included in the majority of the leases assumed when acquiring the portfolio in late 2013," Haverly said.

Haverly would not identify the new tenant taking the Pepper's location, saying the company "does not disclose specific information regarding negotiations or arrangements with tenants."

At one point A&B had told the Dees that lease considerations weren't just focused on money, but on the tenant mix. The Dees offered to adjust their menu if that was an issue.

Last week they began telling customers that Pepper's last day in business will be Sept. 30.

"People are really upset," she said. "I had one older man, who comes from the other side of the island for his steak sandwich once a month, break down with tears in his eyes. It made me so sad."

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