Posted on: Monday, February 24, 2003

EDITORIAL
Keep moving ahead on Aloha Tower plans

Essentially, the Aloha Tower Marketplace area has been a work in progress since the early 1990s. With so much potential for the site, we hope the latest bid to develop Piers 5 and 6 diamondhead of the retail and restaurant complex will pan out.

This section of the Honolulu harborfront ought to be a developer's dream, not a white elephant.

Right now, the most promising suitor is the Dallas-based UC Urban. Its plans call for 250 low-rise loft residences, 200,000 square feet of office space and a 250-room hotel with ground-level restaurant and retail space. A ferry terminal, parking and boat slips are also part of the proposal.

The same company created the Mockingbird Station in Dallas. Next to a light-rail station, it converted an abandoned brick warehouse and office building into 211 luxury loft apartments, 550,000 square feet of office space, an eight-screen theater, restaurants and a retail area anchored by a Virgin Megastore.

That kind of mixed-use proposal could breathe life into the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Consider the success of San Francisco's China Basin area since the arrival of the Pacific Bell Park baseball stadium, which can be reached by ferry from across the bay. The once-sleepy industrial area now boasts housing, restaurants and businesses, among other attractions.

With the right mix of attractions, the Aloha Tower Marketplace could also thrive. Unfortunately, the area has been plagued by the tourism industry's ups and downs, as well as parking challenges. Its owner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.

The Aloha Tower Development Corp., the agency in charge of redevelopment at Honolulu Harbor, notes that UC Urban's proposal is preliminary and short on details.

We'd like to know more about the parking plans, and we'd also like to see a commitment to making the area accessible by foot or bicycle through a shoreline trail that follows the water's edge from Kapi'olani Park through Waikiki and Ala Moana Park to the Honolulu harborfront.

Now's the time to dream big. After all, we don't want to get stuck with a white elephant.