Efforts under LONG BEFORE the days of Wal-Mart and the Waikele outlet stores, there was Arakawa's.
way to revitalize
Waipahu
The once-busy area is getting a
boost from projects including
parks and businessesBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinVisitors from Ewa, Waianae and even Wahiawa also were drawn to Oahu's first Big-Way and Aloha Shopping Center, the state's first, also along Waipahu Depot Road.
Charlie Nishioka, whose gas station was at the shopping center, said, "I didn't see anything else like it at that time."
Other old-timers like Edith Correa Valdriz still think Waipahu -- almost midway between Kalaeloa, Wahiawa and Honolulu -- is Oahu's true second city. "That's the way it used to be like in the olden days," said Valdriz, now a vice president with Hawaii's Plantation Village.
Arakawa's and most of those other stores are now just pages in Waipahu's century-old history book, as is Oahu Sugar Co., which spawned them.
But Waipahu civic leaders and business people are hoping that a string of projects will help jump-start business in the region and lure Oahuans back to the area.
It's not happening at a rapid-fire clip, but there are signs of activity -- from the city's soccer complex near the Waipio Peninsula to the upcoming Golden Coin Bakery on Paiwa Street.
"We have a lot going for us, it's a matter of putting it together and going on our way," said Darrlynn Bunda, executive director of the Waipahu Community Association.
"The biggest thing is this is a whole new, enthusiastic group of new faces dedicated to revitalizing Waipahu," said Annette Yamaguchi, longtime chairwoman of the Waipahu Neighborhood.
The optimists point to Alexander & Baldwin's Mill Town Center as an example of the new Waipahu.
Of 23 light industrial, fee-simple lots offered since late 1999, 11 have been sold, according to A&B project manager Rick Stack.
Among those who have located in the 17-acre first phase are a Jade Foods production and warehousing facility, a Golden Coin restaurant and bakery, and an Island Heritage Publishing office and distribution center.
"I think Waipahu, being centrally located, makes a big difference," Stack said. "You can get out to Kapolei and Campbell Industrial Park and Central Oahu all within a reasonable period of time."On two acres near the industrial complex, the Filipino Community Center has broken ground. Rose Churma, project interim executive director, said plans are to move into the facility by mid-2002.
The $11 million project is being funded largely by private contributions. The site was donated by Amfac.
Churma said she is working with Bunda to create a Waipahu festival as early as this fall.
Another project involves creating a business incubator program for fledgling entrepreneurs.
"We want to change the perception of Waipahu," Churma said. "We're a vibrant community that can invoke a plantation past."
The centerpiece project eyed by the Waipahu Community Association is what's dubbed the Waipahu Festival Market.
The plan is to create a local-made-only marketplace featuring food, arts and crafts and other products that would be part Ala Moana Farmers Market, part Aloha Flea Market and part Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Bunda and the association are negotiating for the rights to use the former sites of Arakawa's, Big Way and others in the core of the commercial district for the project.
Goro Arakawa, patriarch of the famous general store, said he believes the key will be finding a niche in which big-box retailers can not compete.
"If you have general merchandise, anybody can make," Arakawa said.
"We have to give them a reason to come down."
A spur from the city-state's Pearl Harbor Historic Trail project -- which would include train, bike and walking paths along the former Oahu Railway and Land Co. locomotive line -- would tie the Waipio Peninsula with the Depot Road section and Hawaii's Plantation Village down the road.
City Managing Director Ben Lee said the upcoming budget includes a $2.5 million appropriation to acquire about four acres of coast behind Waipahu High School as part of historic trail.
Mayor Jeremy Harris and the city have chosen to put up two major sports facilities elsewhere in Waipahu.
This June, the city will open the first phase of its Central Oahu Regional Park next to Waipio Gentry. At 269 acres, it will be bigger than Kapiolani and Ala Moana parks combined.
The $16 million project would include six baseball fields and three multipurpose facilities.
Manny Menendez, city director of economic development, estimates that on weekend days, some 2,500 to 3,500 people would use it.
A benefactor of the soccer complex is Tanioka's Seafoods and Catering.On a Thursday morning, Mel Tanioka and his staff prepared 500 Spam musubi for a tournament.
"Waipahu is like a crossroads, it's a central point," said Tanioka. "From Pearl City to Waianae to Ewa and Mililani, people have to pass by Waipahu."
Near the Waipio soccer complex, a project of a different sort is taking place on 80 acres known as the Pouhala Marsh.
At a price tag of about $1.2 million, the area will be cleaned and removed of fill material, fenced and a nesting area established.
"It will actually be like a bit of nature in a fairly urban setting," said Paul Conry, state wildlife program manager. The final permits are now being obtained and he hopes to begin work by June.
"By next year, we'll be ready to have some ponds go in," he said.
Ducks, coots and other water birds are expected to flock to the area.
The national nonprofit group Ducks Unlimited is helping to develop the site.
"Pouhala Marsh, I think, will become a real jewel asset for the people of Waipahu," he said.
Maureen Andrade, president of the Village Park Community Association, pronounces proudly that she is a 50-year resident of Waipahu.
Andrade thinks it's important for those in the newest subdivisions to realize they share not just the 96797 zip code, but also a common history.
"All that divides us is the freeway," she said.
"If not for the freeway, all of these communities would be together."
That new philosophy showed itself recently when Waipahu residents testified in opposition to a proposed Kahala Mall-like shopping center at the far edges of Kunia. Residents argued that core Waipahu's revitalization efforts would be for naught if the center was approved.
The City Council this week wound up approving only a portion of the project.
"We know things have changed, we cannot bring back Arakawa's or the plantation but we can keep the memories going," Andrade said. "We need to because our kids are going to be brought up in the community. This is our culture, we live here and we need to know."