Group buys
7 Waikiki parcelsShidler and 2 partners will open
The Shops at 2150 Kalakaua
The Shidler Group and two partners have purchased seven pieces of land in the heart of Waikiki for a total of about $10.6 million.
The properties are grouped together on the mauka side of Kalakaua Avenue close to the Honu Group's upscale 2100 Kalakaua retailing complex.
Shidler, a local investor with commercial properties all over the mainland as well as in Hawaii, said it teamed up with two other local firms, Watumull Properties and Bill Mills Development Co.
Included are three parcels fronting Kalakaua Avenue and four others behind them on Lauula Street, a narrow connection with Lewers Street.
"You couldn't ask for a better collection of properties," said Larry Taff, managing partner of the Shidler Group. He said the firm has been working on the deal for two years.
The fee-simple properties include the former location of the Kyotaru restaurant at 2150 Kalakaua. The Kalakaua properties have 11,000 square feet of leasable space and the Lauula sites total 21,000 square feet of floor space, he said.
Taff said the area has opportunities because of nearby developments, such as 2100 Kalakaua and Niketown, and on the makai side, the pending redevelopment of the Beachwalk-Saratoga-Lewers area by Outrigger Enterprises.
"We are excited to be able to acquire a property right in the heart of all of the new development going on in Waikiki," Taff said. He said the group prefers to buy properties where value can be added by physical improvements and these fit the bill.
Eric Smith and John Foti of management firm Kaulana Corp. have signed leases or offer letters in place for all of the spaces, with backup offers as well, Taff said.
Improvements will be made and the partners hope that the group of properties, renamed The Shops at 2150 Kalakaua, will be open for business before the Christmas season, he said.
The main seller was Kyotaru Co., a Japanese firm that once owned two Kyotaru Japanese restaurants on Oahu and the Columbia Inn restaurants on Kapiolani Boulevard and in Kaimuki. Kyotaru filed for bankruptcy in Japan in early 1997.
By 2001 it had closed the Kalakaua restaurant and the Kapiolani Columbia Inn and sold the others.
Smaller parcels in the Kalakaua/Lauula complex were owned by a number of individuals and businesses.
