Waikiki Beach Walk signs first tenants
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Roy's restaurant and a Wolfgang Puck Express will open next year in Outrigger Enterprises Inc.'s planned Waikiki retail entertainment complex, Outrigger officials said yesterday.
Outrigger Enterprises
Hawai'i restaurateurs chef Roy Yamaguchi and franchisee Scott Rolles are among the first to sign leases for the complex, which is part of Outrigger's $460 million Waikiki Beach Walk redevelopment project that includes hotels, restaurants and retail establishments.
Outrigger Enterprises envisions Waikiki Beach Walk with restaurants, retail shops and hotels.
Roy's Waikiki, Yamaguchi's seventh Hawai'i restaurant, will be on the corner of Lewers Street and Kalia Road at the site of the soon-to-be-closed Waikiki Broiler and Longboard Bar.
MRTK Pacific LLC, which includes Rolles, Roger Mercier and Jerry Thissen, will operate Hawai'i's third Wolfgang Puck Express, on the corner of Don Ho Lane and Lewers Street, where the Lewers Street Fish Company used to be.
Outrigger also announced leases with Whaler's General Store, ABC Stores, Maui Divers, TT&K Hawaiian Shirts, Freaky Tiki Tropical Optical and California-based Malibu Shirts.
All the leases announced yesterday are with new tenants except for ABC Stores and Maui Divers, which will return to almost the same location, said Barbara Campbell, Outrigger's vice president of retail development and leasing. There are some other existing tenants who may return or possibly move to other Waikiki properties, she said.
The planned 90,000 square-foot retail entertainment center will include 40 retail shops, six restaurants and bars and an open pedestrian plaza among four new and/or renovated hotel properties. The center, along Lewers Street between Kalakaua Avenue and Kalia Road, is expected to be completed late next year.
"It is particularly gratifying that so many of the first-signed Waikiki Beach Walk leases are local companies," said David Carey, Outrigger Enterprises president and CEO. "Waikiki Beach Walk is all about local flavors and Island influences, and having these local retailers as integral parts of the project is consistent with our goal of having Waikiki Beach Walk capture the essence of Hawai'i and restore the lure of Waikiki as a favorite gathering place for Island residents and visitors."
The Waikiki Beach Walk project will redevelop 7.9 acres of land along Lewers Street, Beach Walk, Kalia Road and Saratoga Road. Outrigger will officially break ground on the project next month.
The first phase of the project, scheduled to be completed late next year, includes: redeveloping the 480-room Ohana Reef Towers Hotel into the 195-time-share unit Fairfield Hawaii at Waikiki Beach Walk; converting the Ohana Waikiki Village and Ohana Waikiki Tower hotels into the all-suite Embassy Suites-Waikiki Beach Walk, and renovating the Ohana Islander Waikiki.
The second phase includes a proposed 350-foot mixed-use tower at the current site of the Ohana Royal Islander and Ohana Reef Lanai hotels and the Malihini and Hale Pua Nui apartments.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.
