Construction will begin in July on the long-anticipated Hokulei Village shopping complex, which would bring a second Safeway store to Kauai and establish another shopping center in Kauai’s growing commercial sector.
Hokulei Village should open in mid-2014. However, construction of the center’s anchor tenant, a 56,000-square-foot Safeway “lifestyle” store, may proceed faster. A Walgreens pharmacy, a Petco pet supply store, a Jack in the Box restaurant and an American Savings Bank also are planned for the complex, which is less than a mile from Lihue’s main 330,000-square-foot Kukui Grove Center mall.
The project, which sits on former sugar cane fields purchased from Grove Farm Co., has been in planning since 2008. Safeway originally intended to complete the project by 2010, but the company was delayed by the national economic slowdown, the expansion of Kaumualii Highway fronting the site, and litigation relating to its decision to break the project into two phases.
After the dispute, Safeway and landowner Grove Farm worked to move the economically challenged project forward. Safeway opted to downsize its original plan, which called for the development of all
22.8 acres of the commercially zoned site.
Phase I of the village will use only the 14.25-acre parcel closest to Kaumualii Highway, but Safeway will retain an option to purchase additional acreage from Grove Farm.
“There were economic challenges and this project is long overdue. The time is now right and we’re anxious to get started,” said Gerry Wolfe, vice president for development with Property Development Centers, a Safeway affiliate.
Safeway’s new lifestyle store at Hokulei Village will become the state’s 22nd Safeway. It will carry an expanded selection of regular and organic produce and will showcase Safeway’s Select, Signature and O Organics brands along with several specialty departments.
Warren Haruki, Grove Farm president and CEO, said Hokulei Village is expected to become an integral part of the company’s plan to enhance the Lihue-Puhi area.
“We understand that Kauai residents have been eagerly awaiting this project and Grove Farm is pleased to see it finally moving forward,” Haruki said.
