Niu business sues to end lease at church-run center
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
For more than 40 years, Niu Valley Center has been a small neighborhood shopping center, but now its busiest restaurant wants out, claiming the East Honolulu complex is becoming more a religious campus than a retail center.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
KFC franchisee Kazi Foods Corp. of Hawaii is suing the Maui-based church that bought the center in August, in an effort by the fast-food eatery to terminate its lease.
The KFC franchisee at Niu Valley Center says King's Cathedral & Chapels is turning the property into what is primarily a religious facility, which would nullify any obligation to honor a business lease.
Kazi, in its suit filed this month against King's Cathedral & Chapels, claims that the Niu center no longer is a shopping center because the church is converting the space of former center anchor Times Super Market into a sanctuary.
Other plans by the church include opening a bookstore specializing in religion, an infant nursery, a preschool and youth classrooms that Kazi said make the property primarily a religious facility that nullifies Kazi's obligation to remain at the center between Hawai'i Kai and 'Aina Haina.
A representative of King's Cathedral did not return a call yesterday seeking comment on the suit.
The dispute at the Niu Valley center comes a year after many community residents criticized church plans in part because of a fear that retail and service businesses would be pushed out of the center to broaden church services.
"It's an ideal place for residents of Niu Valley and nearby communities to shop for things," said Bob Chuck, chairman of the Kuli'ou'ou/ Kalani Iki Neighborhood Board, which voted unanimously to oppose the church's plan a year ago. "They wanted to have a shopping center, not a church, not a school."
During the board's meeting last March, a King's Cathedral representative said the church wanted neighboring businesses to stay at the center, which lost Times and a Domino's Pizza store before the church acquired the property.
Times closed about two years ago, and Domino's has been closed for more than a year. A Unocal station at the center also closed.
Remaining tenants include three other restaurants and a handful of service businesses including Curves, a hair salon, doctor offices and BJ Genz Plumbing.
The convenience retailer 7-Eleven plans to build a store with a gas station on the former Unocal site, which may help satisfy some resident desires.
Kazi did not state in its suit that its KFC business has been hurt by church plans. But the center has long suffered from competition by bigger shopping complexes in Hawai'i Kai and Kahala.
At Niu Valley, Alan Takasaki, owner of Le Bistro, said the center's direction "doesn't really matter" for the dinner-only restaurant because Le Bistro is "more of a destination kind of place."
King's Cathedral, formerly known as the First Assembly of God Kahului, envisions its Niu location as its main O'ahu hub.
The church initially leased the former Niu Times location in August 2003, and exercised an option to purchase the entire 5-acre center from the Hawai'i Electricians Pension Trust Fund in August 2004 for about $14 million.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
