[AT YOUR SERVICE]
Navy’s largest THE U.S. NAVY's future largest retail outlet in the world, being built near Pearl Harbor, is 20 percent completed and well on its way to open in October 2002.
exchange will
be on Oahu
Construction work is under way,
and the mall should open as
scheduled in October 2002AT YOUR SERVICE
By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThe $49 million project will combine the Navy Exchange -- which in military parlance is simply a retail outlet -- with a commissary, or supermarket, for active service members, their families, reservists and their families and retirees.
The commissary will be the largest in Hawaii and second largest in the system to the one at Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, said Mike Cottrell, district manager of the Navy Exchange.
Shoppers will be greeted by a two-story waterfall at the mall's entrance. The 340,000-square-foot, two-story mall will be located near the existing Navy Exchange on Radford Drive outside Pearl Harbor.
Cottrell estimates that at least 100,000 military personnel and their dependents and retirees shop at the current exchange, resulting in annual sales of more than $100 million.
He expects a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in sales because "we are doubling the retail floor space for every commodity we are carrying."
The retail floor space in the new exchange will go to 145,000 square feet from 69,000 square feet. That also means an increase in the exchange's full-time staff of 800.
"I'm looking at least 40 new full-time jobs," Cottrell said.
That increase doesn't count part-time and seasonal workers whom he hires during peak periods like Christmas.
The Navy Exchange's annual payroll currently stands at $1 million.
Mike Miller, C.F. Jordan project manager, estimated that 90 percent of the almost $50 million construction job will stay in the islands.
Currently, his local labor force numbers about 125, but Miller estimated that within eight months the number of laborers, electricians, carpenters and plumbers will nearly triple, to about 300.
Miller described the Pearl Harbor exchange-commissary shopping mall as "a designer-built project.
"The owner, designer and builder all are working together to get the store done on time and on budget," Miller said.
He said the shopping mall is scheduled to open in October 2002, but landscaping and paving of a new parking lot won't be completed until May 2003. The current exchange and commissary will be demolished when the new complex opens.
Cottrell there will be "a significant increase" in the number of parking spaces, climbing to 1,900 from 1,050.
The new mall will consolidate many stores and services, and a military liquor store, a pharmacy and a military travel office will be added.
Cottrell said military personnel who order their prescription drugs from Tripler Army Medical Center will be able to pick them up at the new shopping mall.
A new, expanded food court will be housed on the mall's second floor, with 12,200 square feet of food vendors and indoor seating. Another 5,700 square feet of seating will be established on an outside lanai.
On the supermarket side of the operation, Jerry Copenhefer, acting Hawaii zone manager for the Defense Commissary Agency, said the floor space in the market will increase to 50,407 square feet from 39,500 square feet.
Copenhefer estimated that more than 90,000 military people shop at the commissary, spending an average $3.9 million a month. He estimated that when the new supermarket opens 14 months from now, sales will climb to between $6 million and $8 million a year.
The construction work currently is C.F. Jordan's only Hawaii contract. The 32-year-old construction firm, the 120th largest in the country, is based in El Paso, Texas.
There was concern by exchange and commissary officials in January when construction began on the massive project that the inconvenience could result in a drop in sales.
But Rear Adm. Robert Conway, Hawaii Navy region commander, said that service members have continued to shop at the stores during the early phases of construction. Profits from the Navy exchange are used to support the military's morale, welfare and recreation programs.
Cottrell said he is "very excited" on what the store will mean to Hawaii's military community in increased employment and services.
He said only one slight change was made to the overall plan for the shopping mall.
A furniture store initially was proposed for the shopping complex, Cottrell said, but it was relocated a few blocks away in a separate building. The 20,000-square-foot furniture complex, which is about the same size of the current facility, will open this month next to the Navy-Marine Golf Course.
Gregg K. Kakesako can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.