Ala Moana Center yesterday unveiled its latest expansion program that would increase its overall retail space by more than 300,000 square feet over the next two years.
The additions include a previously announced, 160,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus department store on the makai side of the center; a full-scale third level of retail space; a bigger food court and an expanded Liberty House department store.
Another 2,000 parking spaces will be added to the current 7,800-space lot.
The expansion also will add a more Hawaiian feel to the 1.5 million-square-foot mall, with taro gardens, kukui trees and ferns decorating its landscape.
The center's plans also include a waterfall and a stream on its Ewa end.
A 268,000-square-foot Nordstrom department store on the Kona Street side of the center, which is scheduled to open in 1999, is part of a later expansion program.
"This expansion will further position Ala Moana as Hawaii's Center," said Dwight Yoshimura, Ala Moana's general manager, who noted that the center attracts some 4.6 million shopping visits each month.
The expansion would add a significant number of jobs, Yoshimura added.
The center's 200 tenants currently employ a total of about 8,000 people.
Completed in 1959, Ala Moana Center is owned by Japan-based retailing giant Daiei Inc.