Waimanalo business
gets set for road closure

Some expect a drop in business
during the rock-face construction

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By Genevieve A. Suzuki
gsuzuki@starbulletin.com

Businesses in Waimanalo are laying off workers, applying for low-interest loans and appealing to area residents to offset what they say will be an economic nightmare during the highway closure at Makapuu.

"I think this is going to hurt me more than 9/11," said Point Break surf shop owner Toni Blanchard.

"After 9/11 (the Small Business Administration) was giving out loans, but I didn't go. I thought I'd just weather through," said Blanchard, who intends to apply for a low-interest loan to get through November.

The state will close about 900 feet of Kalanianaole Highway, from Makapuu Lookout toward Makapuu Beach Park, starting Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day through Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving.

Royal Contracting Co. Ltd. will scale back loose rocks and debris, get rid of rocky overhangs through controlled blasting and install netting and fencing to stop falling rocks. The work was moved up from February after a rockslide closed the highway on Oct. 15 for 13 hours.

"It's going to affect our business, definitely," said Jae Im Kang, the manager of Hawaii's Hidden Treasures at Waimanalo Shopping Center.

Kang said about 15 to 20 tour buses, each carrying about 60 passengers, stop at the store every day.

She said the highway closure will cost the company about $60,000.

To cope with the decrease in customers, Kang plans to lay off two or three full-time employees and keep the store open only from 8 to 11 a.m. daily.

One of the Windward businesses that will be severely affected is Sea Life Park. Roughly 80 percent of its visitors travel the highway that will be closed.

"It will be devastating," said Ronald Williams, president of Atlantis Adventures, which manages Sea Life Park. "We are trying to do everything we can to minimize the impact."

Sea Life Park is working to reroute traffic. The city has agreed to help out by having The Bus to bring visitors from Ala Moana Shopping Center via Kailua instead through Hawaii Kai.

Roberts Hawaii Tours has adjusted its schedule to begin its circle-island tour earlier so that it can stop at the Blowhole and Sandy Beach and pass Makapuu before crews close the road.

"People come to see those things," said Tommy Lee, a Roberts driver. "This is going to hurt our tour industry."

Enoa Tours driver Charles Pila said his company has changed its circle-island route to bypass Waimanalo altogether.

Enoa's buses will stop at the Blowhole, then backtrack through town and up the Pali Highway to the Windward side before heading to Waimea Bay on the North Shore.

"Tourists won't like it because they want to go through the whole point," Pila said.

Waimanalo Shopping Center was a convenient stop for buses because it offered clean bathrooms and places to eat, according to Pila.

Pila said Enoa will return to Waimanalo after the construction is completed.

Several businesses are pleading for help from the local community. Blanchard posted a sign on the store's front door saying, "Waimanalo businesses need your support!"

Blanchard said 85 percent of her customers are tourists, "but we'd like more residents," she said.

For Mel's Market, whose customers are mostly Waimanalo residents, the construction is just an inconvenience.

"It might slow down a little, but we're not going to be affected too much," said manager Gail Jones. "We have a lot of regular customers, a lot of people in the community."