Ala Moana talks
with big music retailer
The shopping center is
Star-Bulletin staff
negotiating with Virgin Entertainment
to anchor a large projectAla Moana Center is negotiating with British music giant Virgin Entertainment Group to open a huge store adjacent to the center.
The music store would anchor an entertainment complex that could include theaters, restaurants, shops and possibly a hotel.
Center manager Dwight Yoshimura yesterday confirmed that center owner DE Hawaii Joint Venture is negotiating with Virgin Entertainment but said plans are tentative.
"Until you have a signed lease you really don't have anything," he said.
Preliminary plans call for a complex on Kona Street mauka of the center. While financing and tenants are still undetermined, Yoshimura said he hopes to have details by July.
The site, owned by DE, is bordered by Kapiolani Boulevard and Keeaumoku, Kona and Mahukona streets. It is currently occupied by Kengo's Restaurant, a vacant Pioneer Federal Savings & Loan building, and numerous shops and bars.
A model of the plan was displayed at an International Council of Shopping Centers meeting last week in Las Vegas. Yoshimura said the presentation was to gauge interest in the project.
He indicated a theater complex may also be under consideration.
Virgin Entertainment, part of the British Virgin Group Ltd., operates more than 50 "megastores" around the world.
The company opened a 40,000-square-foot music store in New Orleans in March. The store includes 150,000 titles on compact disc and cassette, 20,000 video titles and 2,000 entertainment software titles.
