Ward Centre
scraps plans for
upscale mall

Such a move would have the
company competing with itself

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

The Ward Centre in Kakaako will not have its previously planned shopping mall anchored by a full-scale Nordstrom's department store.

To build such a mall would simply mean that the company owning both Ala Moana Center and Victoria Ward Ltd. would be competing with itself, said John Bucksbaum, chief executive officer of Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. If both centers focus on high-end tenants, they would both be wooing the same ones, such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Armani.

Bucksbaum told a luncheon meeting of the Honolulu chapter of the Urban Land Institute yesterday at the Pacific Club that the two centers are distinct, aiming at different markets. General Growth bought Ala Moana Center in late 1999 for $810 million and Victoria Ward -- owner of Ward Warehouse, Ward Centre and 65 acres of Kakaako land -- for $250 million earlier this year.

Nordstrom, which has shoe stores on both the Ala Moana and Victoria Ward properties, is still in discussions about a location for a full-scale, apparel-oriented department store, Bucksbaum said after his speech. The store had struck a deal with Victoria Ward prior to that company's sale to General Growth.

"We have been talking to Nordstrom for years" about locations all across the country, Bucksbaum said, "but they can come in with us or talk to others."

The bottom line is there is no deal with Nordstrom, he said.

Bucksbaum also put down a rumor about General Growth seeking to buy land between the Ala Moana and Victoria Ward properties to turn the whole area into one giant shopping center. That is not true, he said.

Ala Moana Center is increasingly becoming a shopping place for affluent international travelers such as the Japanese, while the Ward centers, with a long local history, attract more local shoppers, he said.

The biggest thing General Growth brings to the Hawaii shopping scene may be experience. Bucksbaum's company, founded in the 1950s by his father and an uncle, has learned many things over the years, he said.

Some of that knowledge translates into corporate philosophy, according to what Bucksbaum said in his speech and his response later to questions:

>> Shopping centers should not shun "big box" low-price stores as enemies, but instead should bring them in as part of a mix that appeals to all customers.

>> Centers need "family rest rooms," truly comfortable places where people can use the toilet, change the baby or just take a break.

>> They also need play areas for kids, so children can be left to enjoy themselves while their parents are shopping.

>> And they need plenty of good "sit-down" restaurants to balance their fast-food outlets.

When Ala Moana Center was first built, developer Dillingham Corp. said it could not have kids' play areas because the threat of liability lawsuits and the consequent insurance premiums were too great.

Bucksbaum said today's kids' centers have padded floors, soft furniture and little risk. His company has run some for years without a single liability suit and without needing professional child-care overseers, he said.

As for the family rest rooms, he said Ala Moana Center redid its public toilets recently, before that concept came into vogue, and he could not say when they might be built here, but he said the idea is one of many aimed at improving shopping for families.

The Costco and Sam's Club "big box" warehouselike stores have long been seen as the antithesis to a nice shopping center, bent on a price advantage only, Bucksbaum said, but it is a mistake to dismiss them as not the same type of business. Shopping centers will do better if they bring those stores into their mix, he said.