Waianae Mall has another new owner — its fourth in a decade.

Honolulu-based real estate firm Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced Wednesday that it bought the 170,300-square-foot neighborhood shopping center for $29.8 million, including the assumption of debt.

A&B said it plans to increase occupancy at the mall and improve its position in the marketplace.

"We plan to revitalize the mall and restore it as an important retail and community center for Waianae residents," Chris Benjamin, A&B’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Benjamin said a new tenant has committed to lease space in a move that will raise the mall’s occupancy from 79 percent to 93 percent later this year, though A&B did not name the tenant. Waianae Mall, built in 1974, is anchored by Longs Drugs Stores and City Mill.

The purchase by A&B is part of a plan by the company to increase its collection of income-producing real estate in Hawaii and decrease the same kind of holdings on the mainland.

That strategy also was behind A&B’s recent sale of a 119,400-square-foot industrial complex in Fullerton, Calif., for $14.9 million. A&B said it plans to reinvest proceeds from that sale in Hawaii real estate through a tax-free program.

A&B said it purchased Waianae Mall with proceeds from the sale of a land parcel in July. A&B spent $10.1 million on the mall, and assumed a $19.7 million loan on the property.

The seller of the mall was TNP Strategic Retail Trust Inc., a private real estate investment trust that is based in California and primarily buys retail centers anchored by grocery and drug stores in the western United States.

TNP bought Waianae Mall in 2010 for $25.5 million from another California owner, 3D Investments LLC. 3D had purchased the mall in 2005 for $19 million from a hui of owners that included local attorney Rick Fried, Gentry Cos. and local real estate investor Thelma Gretzinger.