An outpatient surgical center will move into the Waterfront Plaza space occupied by Restaurant Row 9 Theatres when the bargain-movie complex closes in August.

The center will be owned and operated by a newly formed joint venture between Surgical Care Affiliates LLC and Hawai'i Pacific Health Partners Inc., which will lease 17,000 square feet of the 22,000-square-foot property, according to Waterfront Plaza owner Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc.

The surgical center is expected to open in the fall of 2010 with construction starting in September, one month after the theaters' last showing on Aug. 9.

"We believe this joint venture is going to be a very successful combination," said Larry Taff, the executive vice president of Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc.

The leasing is part of Pacific Office Properties' repositioning for Waterfront Plaza, known by many O'ahu residents as Restaurant Row. Previous owner Bruce Stark, a property developer now based in Las Vegas, once positioned the area as a mall for Downtown Honolulu.

"It brings together Surgical Care Affiliates LLC, which is a nationally recognized leader in the outpatient surgery business, with Hawaii Pacific Health Partners Inc., a recognized healthcare leader in Hawai'i," Taff said.

Hawaii Pacific Health is a not-for-profit corporation that includes Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, Kapi'olani Medical Center at Pali Momi, Kapi'olani Woman, Straub Clinic & Hospital, Wilcox Memorial Hospital, Kaua'i Medical Clinic and Kapi'olani Medical Specialists.

"We're just trying to do what's best for the property," Taff said about the change in direction toward medical and office space. The trust — an affiliate of The Shidler Group and the biggest commercial office space owner in Honolulu — bought the property in 2004.

"This is an exciting addition to a growing number of healthcare-related tenants," including CVS/Procare, Covance clinical trials, Neospine surgery center and Hawaii P.E.T. Imaging," he said.

Restaurants on the Ala Moana boulevard side of the plaza — Hiroshi's Eurasian Tapas, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Bonsai Restaurant and Lounge and others — are expected to stay, but there are no plans to open other restaurants within the property, Taff said.

The Ala Moana boulevard side of the theater, now the ticket booth and entrance, will be left vacant and Properties Trust is looking for a tenant to fill the 5,000-square-foot-area.

Constructed in 1988, Waterfront Plaza is home to more than 100 business and organization tenants, including law, accounting and insurance firms and government agencies.