WAIPAHU — The Waipahu Community Association will convert a vacant supermarket building into a marketplace in the hope that it will revive business activity in Waipahu's historic town core.

The association will begin renovating the old Big Way supermarket building, located across Waipahu Depot Road from the former Arakawa's store, in late August or early September and plans to have the $3.4 million Waipahu Festival Market project completed by March or April.

Darrlyn Bunda, the Waipahu Community Association executive director, said the Waipahu Festival Market will feature 34 vendors selling fresh vegetables, fruits and seafood; Pacific regional food products; and local arts and crafts, in an indoor setting with entertainment and memorabilia showcasing the cultural diversity of the community.

"We see it being a fun place, a place to gather, not a run-of-the-mill market," Bunda said. "We're looking at it having the flavor of (Seattle's) Pike Place Market and (Vancouver, British Columbia's) Granville Island Public Market.

"We want people to think, 'You name it, they'll have it there,' " Bunda said. "We'll have fresh produce for different ethnic foods and different forums to show people how to cook it and let them taste it."

The association, organized in the 1960s, was reactivated in 2000 after 20-plus years of inactivity.

Waipahu Festival Market has a chance to stimulate Waipahu by giving people a reason to come there, Bunda said.

"We get overlooked because of the freeway," Bunda noted. "People just stay on the freeway and go to Waikele. We want (the Festival Market) to be a destination, a reason for people to rediscover Waipahu.

"(Waipahu) Depot Road, that's where the history is."

The Festival Market ties in with improvements going on in the area, which includes the Leeward YMCA's development at the old sugar mill site and revitalized program activity at the Filipino Community Center.

Plans also call for the "Kapakahi Stream Walkway" from the Festival Market to Hawai'i Plantation Village, said Bunda. The vision is to clean up and revive Waipahu Depot Road on both sides on Farrington Highway, and to capitalize on the potential the existing transit center has in bringing more people to the area to shop.

Arakawa's store closed in 1995 after 85 years in business, and its building remained vacant for many years. Samoan church services are held there now, said Bunda. The Big Way market closed in 1999, and the Waipahu Community Association purchased the property from the Yokono Shintaku family in June 2003 for $1 million.

Converting the supermarket is a major renovation project, said Bunda. "We need to do asbestos abatement, put in fixtures, level out the first floor and the mezzanine, and work on the roof."

Money for the project comes from a $1.25 million city community development block grant and matching U.S. Economic Development Administration dollars; a $748,350 economic development initiative special projects grant; $180,000 Empower O'ahu community investment money; and $300,000 grant in aid from the state.

"Because construction costs are higher than budgeted, we still have to raise about $1 million," said Bunda.

In addition to space for vendors, the Waipahu Festival Market will make available low-cost, incubator space for emerging entrepreneurs. There will be a business and employment training center on the mezzanine, and Bunda said the association has commitments from the Leeward Junior Jaycees and Hawai'i Women's Business Center to provide business, legal and financial sessions at the training center.