Mall developer DeBartolo Development LLC has named a few retailers that will occupy the initial phase of an envisioned $350 million regional shopping center in East Kapolei, though construction of the project called Ka Makana Ali‘i has been pushed back to early next year.

Florida-based DeBartolo said Walgreens, 24 Hour Fitness, Butterfly Ice Cream, State Farm Insurance and Nail Tek will be among the first tenants in the project’s 200,681-square-foot first phase, while McDonald’s is in final lease negotiations.

The six retailers are expected to be joined by another roughly 20 tenants in the phase, including a supermarket anchor, though DeBartolo isn’t disclosing names of other merchants negotiating for or committed to lease space.

Edward Kobel, DeBartolo’s president and chief operating officer, said merchants have committed to lease about 80 percent of first-phase space. “The project has really taken off,” he said.

However, projections on the timing of development — especially for a second phase representing the vast majority of the open-air mall with 1.4 million square feet of space — have slipped.

A final environmental assessment published in January projected construction on the first phase would begin next month. That was followed by a February announcement naming project architects and saying construction would start by the end of this year.

Now the company expects construction to begin early next year, Kobel said Tuesday. He said he expects initial tenant openings in 2014.

The second phase, which includes a major department store and 200,000 square feet each of office space and hotel rooms, was previously projected to open in 2015. But DeBartolo is no longer projecting the start of construction or completion of this phase.

Kobel said a major department store has committed to anchor the second phase, and that interest from other retailers is strong, including some from stores with no presence in Hawaii and some from Spain, Italy and England.

“We’ve gotten overwhelming interest in the property,” he said. “Ka Makana Ali‘i will be one of the only regional malls to be built in the United States in years. … Its unique blend of tenants will offer amenities like no other center in the area.”

Ka Makana Ali‘i was announced in 2006 with an initial expectation of opening a first phase in 2009. The project is a major component for realizing a more than 30-year-old vision by city planners to make the greater Kapolei area into a secondary urban center for Oahu.  

If it is fully built out, Ka Makana Ali‘i would rival the size of Oahu’s second-largest regional mall — Pearlridge Center — and provide the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands with substantial revenue to develop housing for Native Hawaiians.

DeBartolo is leasing the 67-acre mall site from DHHL, which stands to receive more than $140 million over the first 25 years of the lease. But much of the lease rent during the first several years is backloaded.

Instead of paying $4.7 million annually over the first 10 years for all 67 acres, the developer received approval to pay $1.3 million a year for 18 acres making up the first phase once construction starts.

The $3.4 million annual balance would be deferred, allowing DeBartolo to pay none of that in the first two years, followed by $1 million in each of the next four years. After six years, all deferred amounts would be due.

DeBartolo also retained a right to opt out of developing the second phase within six years, but would owe a termination fee ranging from $500,000 to $6.3 million depending on the timing of such a decision.