Convention Center getting some space

If you're looking for irony in Mayor Jeremy Harris' proposal to use the condemnation process to spruce up the Hawai'i Convention Center surroundings, it's that the site of the Convention Center was too small from the start.

To be sure, the design-build team that delivered the $350 million Convention Center on time and on budget surprised a lot of skeptics by cramming a workable — and classy — venue into the available 10 acres.

But imagine what might have been done if the condemnation bug had struck someone before ground was broken on the project in 1994.

Still, given present conditions, Harris has the right idea. He intends to create a "gateway to Waikiki," starting with the five properties on the 'ewa-mauka corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Kapi'olani Boulevard.

How to put this delicately? Some of the businesses in this neighborhood were rendered inappropriate when their upscale new neighbor opened. That includes the famous strip bar Club Rock-Za, which basks in the glow of the Convention Center's atrium.

What's important to remember in all this is that the businesses in question are legal, permitted and — until now — representative of the highest and best use for this land that the market could support. It's appropriate that the condemnation process be carried out in a friendly fashion, that the businesses be assisted in finding new locations and in making their moves.

That said, however, Harris' plan represents the opportunity for a substantial new civic improvement. It deserves to move forward rapidly.