StarBulletin.com

Niketown center for sale


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POSTED: Thursday, March 19, 2009

King Kalakaua Plaza, the four-story retail complex better known as the Niketown building in Waikiki, is on the market.

The asking price: $7 million.

               

     

 

Looking for buyers

       

        » Address: 2080 Kalakaua Ave.
       

» List price: $7 million

       

» Listing broker: CBRE western retail investment group

       

» Size: 77,384 square feet

       

» Anchor tenant: Niketown

       

» Details: Two levels of underground parking

       

 

       

CB Richard Ellis is the manager and listing broker for the 77,384-square-foot leasehold property at 2080 Kalakaua Ave. The price per square foot is about $90.

Niketown remains the lone and longtime anchor tenant, occupying about 35,000 square feet with its contemporary, gridded facade. Banana Republic, which anchored the other end of the center, closed down earlier this year, leaving about 23,500 square feet empty.

A third tenant, a sports bar and club called the All-Star Cafe, closed down in 2005 after seven years in business. The closure left behind a 12,000-square-foot vacancy sandwiched between Niketown and Banana Republic that was never filled.

Upper-floor spaces, including a fourth-level restaurant space with an ocean view, never filled either, even during better economic times.

Phil Voorhees, a broker with CBRE's western retail investment group, did not return calls for comment by press time yesterday.

The Honu Group of Honolulu developed King Kalakaua Plaza in the late 1990s, with an official opening in 1998. It was envisioned as cutting-edge retail strategically placed near the Hawaii Convention Center.

Few customers seemed to know, however, of the two levels of underground parking below the retail complex.

Both Niketown and Banana Republic were original tenants.

Lehman Brothers Holdings, which went bankrupt last year, is a majority shareholder of the retail complex, which went through foreclosure in 2006.

The complex is next door to 2100 Kalakaua, also known as “;luxury row”; because of high-end tenants like Tiffany & Co., Gucci and Chanel. Luxury Row is owned by New York investors Metropole Realty and Heller Properties.

The listing, which is also on loopnet.com, describes King Kalakaua Plaza as a trophy retail redevelopment opportunity at the gateway to Kalakaua Avenue. The listing says the plaza is being offered dramatically below replacement cost.