Posted on: Thursday, May 22, 2003

Artist lofts planned in Chinatown

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

The sale of a historic building at the corner of Smith and North King streets to a nonprofit group signals not only the demise of one established Chinatown business, but also what the new owners hope will be a beginning for many others.

Pacific Gateway Center, a group that assists immigrants and low-income residents with business loans and job training, paid $1.1 million for the 80-year-old Chinatown building at 83 North King St. formerly owned by the Paradise Produce Co.

Pacific Gateway plans to create a business incubation center on the ground floor, with space for artist lofts above.

Tin Myaing Thien, executive director of the Pacific Gateway Center, said the group, which operates a kitchen incubation center on Umi Street in Kalihi, hopes some of those businesses will begin selling prepared food items in the new building by fall.

"This will help us market their products," Thien said. "The purpose is to do a retail storefront on the first floor, which will be an incubator for micro-businesses that don't have the funds for overhead on their own."

Thien said a lot of renovation needs to be done before the building can reopen, including repairs to the floors that are missing tiles and are not level; work on water damage; and fresh paint.

"It's a historic building, so we want to preserve the features to keep the integrity of the building," Thien said.

Pacific Gateway offers several programs to help immigrants and low-income residents. Such programs include computer classes, employment training and job-placement services. The center offers loans for new or existing businesses.

The nonprofit has written grant requests for the renovations and is looking for an architect to bid on design and construction work. The plan for the second floor is to follow guidelines developed by the Honolulu Culture & Arts District using the upper floors of the area's historic buildings to build lofts, creating spaces for artists to live and work in.

"If one of the architects can think of a way to make the room modular for artist's lofts, that would be great," Thien said.

Christina Kemmer, spokeswoman for the arts group, said Thien understands the vision of what the district could be and is working to try and make it happen.

"Economic development is a big part of this district," Kemmer said. "You need to be able to have a mix of not just arts and culture, but economic endeavors tied to it to succeed. She is trying to do both."

According to city tax records, Paradise Produce purchased the building in 1987 for $750,000.

The stone structure was built in 1920 and has about 10,000 square feet of retail and office space on three floors.

Paradise Produce has long been known as a place to purchase good-quality and hard-to-find produce and was a regular spot for gourmets and chefs to shop.

Local chef Kelley Heldt was shocked to see the produce store close and his friend Alvin Yamauchi out of business.

"Alvin would carry things other markets in Chinatown wouldn't, such as Maui onions," Heldt said.

Heldt said he will search out the same produce at more expansive stores outside of the area.

Yamauchi could not be reached for comment.