LIHUE — Stores at Lihue’s newest shopping center are projected to start opening in June through early fall, according to a spokesperson for Terramar Retail Centers. “The shopping center will be open in stages,” Terramar spokesperson Alex Liftis said Friday.
LIHUE — Stores at Lihue’s newest shopping center are projected to start opening in June through early fall, according to a spokesperson for Terramar Retail Centers.
“The shopping center will be open in stages,” Terramar spokesperson Alex Liftis said Friday. “Some of the tenants will open in late June. At this point, we don’t have an opening date yet for Safeway, but it would be within sometime late August.”
Liftis said that in addition to Safeway, Terramar has signed leases with five other retailers at Hokulei Village Shopping Center, located at the corner of Nuhou Road and Kaumualii Highway in Lihue.
“The signed leases we have are with Verizon, Supercuts, Uncle’s Shave Ice, and we’re working on a few others such as Jack in the Box, Safeway and Petco,” he said.
“They’re working very hard at (Jack in the Box), and I believe Petco is looking towards late June, but beyond that I don’t have specific information on the tenants individually.”
Walgreens was slated to open a store at the center, but pulled out of its lease in April.
The 22.27-acre complex, which started construction in January 2014 and has been in the works since 2008, is estimated to create almost 200 retail positions in addition to the jobs already created through construction, Liftis said.
“Once the project is completed, ongoing, we have estimated roughly 175 retail positions,” he said. “It’s been great experience for us working on this, and we’re looking forward to being part of the community.”
George Costa, director of the county’s Office of Economic Development, said in an email that although there’s been a reduction of workforce on island — specifically Syngenta, Island Air and Pioneer — he’s positive that “more jobs are being created with the opening of Grove Farm’s Hokulei Village Shopping Center.”
However, he noted that “other businesses may not fare as well and lose business and employees to the new business on the block.”
According to Hawaii Workforce Infonet, there are 30,000 jobs on Kauai, with retail trade making up 13 percent of the market or 3,900 jobs.
Terramar Retail Centers, a California-based shopping center owner and developer, purchased the shopping center late last year from Property Development Centers for $52.25 million.
In addition to the Kauai shopping center, Terramar owns three locations statewide, including one on Maui now under construction.
“We own Laulani Village in Ewa Beach, Oahu; are under construction with the shopping center on Maui; (and) we own Lahaina Cannery Mall on Maui,” Liftis said.
Terramar purchased all of the assets owned by Property Development Centers, LLC, for $800 million, Liftis said.
