An Oahu retail complex developed as an Asian shopping mall nearly 25 years ago in Mapunapuna is slated to become a Home Depot store.
The owner of what was once known as Moanalua Ethnic Village, originally anchored by Asian grocery store 99 Ranch Market, is working to convey its leasehold stake in the complex to the giant home improvement retailer in a move to end a financial struggle brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Honolulu Warehouse Co., which owns the marketplace buildings, intends to sell its property to Home Depot, which would convert the main building at 1151 Mapunapuna St. into a 124,310- square-foot store connected to a 10,000-square-foot garden center, according to the plan.
An adjacent two-story office building is also part of the tentative deal.
If the sale is realized, more than 30 tenants would be displaced and a site that initially gathered retailers of Asian products in an industrial neighborhood drawing good consumer foot traffic would be turned into a fourth Oahu store for Home Depot.
The late Hiroshi Kobayashi, who led Honolulu Warehouse, redeveloped a warehouse built in 1968 into Moanalua Ethnic Village in 1998 and operated the anchor tenant until closing 99 Ranch Market in 2007.
Now the complex, which once had a U.S. Post Office and a bank along with what was billed as Hawaii’s largest Asian market, is largely a collection of food-court restaurant tenants mixed with a handful of kiosk businesses, a couple full-service restaurants and several service providers including a paintball supply store, dry cleaner, nail salon and gymnastics center.
More than a dozen vacant tenant spaces also exist in the center that used to be more popular with consumers.
Stacey Lau, manager of 99 Local Mix Plate, a roughly 20-year tenant in the complex, said Honolulu Warehouse informed tenants several months ago that a shutdown might happen as part of a pending property sale that was not imminent at the time.
“We don’t know what’s going on,” she said Wednesday, adding that it would be difficult to relocate the eatery under present conditions with harshly reduced sales amid the pandemic.
“It’s been slow,” Lau said. “It’s been less than half the sales that we usually make.”
Beth Madlangbayan, owner of Kusina Korner Filipino Food, said survival has been extremely challenging given that customer revenue has plummeted as costs for food, maintenance and other expenses have risen.
“The last two years has been really horrible,” she said. Still, Madlangbayan is hopeful the marketplace won’t close and that the remaining tenants will survive.
Honolulu Warehouse representatives did not respond to Honolulu Star-Advertiser requests for comment about the conversion plan.
The company informed the state Department of Transportation of its plan a few months ago because the agency owns a portion of the marketplace parking lot below an H-1 Freeway on-ramp. Massachusetts-based RMR Group owns the bigger balance of land under the marketplace.
Earlier this month, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a request from Honolulu Warehouse to assign the state land lease to Home Depot.
Norman Cheng, an attorney with local law firm Starn O’Toole Marcus &Fisher representing Honolulu Warehouse, said during a recent BLNR meeting that the marketplace now known as Moanalua 99 used to be a big draw when the grocery store was open but that the owner is now in dire straits because of closures and tenant rent delinquencies after COVID-19 emerged last year.
“Really, to be frank, my client is on the verge of bankruptcy,” Cheng said.
Hiroshi Kobayashi died a year ago, and his wife, Yumiko, heads the company.
In a July letter to DOT, Cheng said Honolulu Warehouse’s expected financial loss each month was $150,000 and that the deal with Home Depot represents a lifeline.
Home Depot spokeswoman Margaret Smith said the Atlanta-based retailer can’t say whether it will establish a new store on Oahu, where the company has outlets in Iwilei, Pearl City and Kapolei.
“It’s still very early days, so I can’t confirm if we’re bringing a new store yet or not,” she said in an email.
Abelaamo Sulu, a longtime marketplace customer who used to be fond of big lobsters from 99 Ranch Market’s seafood department that today is partially occupied by a Mediterranean food purveyor, said he will miss what remains of the marketplace if the Home Depot deal goes through.
“This is a good place,” he said. “Good food.”
