A wave of change
at Waterfront

Crazy Beautiful opened June 23 after co-owners and cousins Vincent Carpenter and Thoai Nguyen got the keys to the 606-square-foot space June 3.

Carpenter and Nguyen put in 18-hour days laying flooring, stripping the old walls and putting up new sheet rock and paint.

Their family owns restaurants on Maui: Chez Paul, Saigon Cafe and Vietnamese Cuisine. But after waitressing and graduating from college with a major in political science and a minor in history, she didn't want to open a restaurant. Neither did her cousin, who earned a degree in accounting and a master's in business administration.

If the merchandise were to have a theme, it would be "Sex and the City," but without the Manolo Blahnik prices, Nguyen said. Clothes range from $18 for a tank top to $150 for a dress, "which is reasonable."

Now that she has a clothing store and plans mainland buying trips once a month, she can never say she has nothing to wear. "I love shopping," Nguyen confessed. "But I've got myself on a budget because I can't wear everything."

The build-out for Las Palmas Steak & Seafood, in the seemingly hexed space formerly occupied by Meritage and a series of failed eateries, is taking a bit longer -- but the restaurateur can't complain to his contractor.

Owner Wilfredo Valiente is also the namesake of Willy's Construction Ltd., which has built his other restaurants, as well as home remodeling.

The other locations he runs with his wife and stepdaughter are downtown, at 201 Merchant St., on the Richards Street side of the building; in Bishop Square and in the Arcade Building.

Valiente was looking forward to the end of his lease at Harbor Court, where Las Palmas had operated for as long as four years, according to Kimberly Serrano, his stepdaughter.

"We're just so happy that people like our food and that we have a chance to open a bigger restaurant, not just for lunch downtown, but where people can come on the weekend. It's something we've wanted for a long time," said Serrano.

"I've seen how hard (her mother and stepfather) have been working at it. We're just so happy that we could get this opportunity."

Lunch will be geared toward the work force; dinner, for couples and families and once dinner's done, "what Willy wants to do is have Latin Nights, with DJs and a live band," Serrano said.

Waterfront Plaza has been getting a makeover, with the repainting and renaming of Building 7 as the Waterfront Innovation Center. The six other towers are being repainted, and "we've done a lot of new landscaping around the restaurants and that's going to continue," said General Manager Paula Orr.

The Shidler Group, complex owner and manager, reports an 84.5 percent occupancy rate as of Friday. The rate dropped following the nationwide downsizing of AT&T, but the company still has a "substantial presence and we're virtually complete on renewing them in that space," said Larry Taff, Shidler Group managing partner.

"We've got a lot of people looking at the space that AT&T vacated ... and I would say we would expect to be back over 90 percent by the end of the year."

There are active proposals for the former Kengo's 5,361-square-foot restaurant space and Hawaii's newest bank, Pacific Rim Bank, may be going in the former Blue Zebra nightclub space, if it receives regulatory approvals.