Shimogawa Scoops

American Soul, a Florida-based high-end clothing retailer, is expanding to Hawaii with its first store opening at the Macy's-anchored Ka Makana Alii shopping center in Kapolei in West Oahu. American Soul filed a building permit last week with Honolulu regulators for a new store at the Kapolei mall, which is owned by Florida-based DeBartolo Development. The retailer will join other tenants at the new mall such as Aerie, American Eagle Outfitters, Famous Footwear, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Foot Locker and H&M.  West Oahu is gaining quite a bit of new retailers and restaurants with the expansion and new openings at not only Ka Makana Alii but the nearby Kapolei Commons shopping center that's owned by The MacNaughton Group and Kobayashi Group.

A new Japanese restaurant is opening in a newly-renovated building on South King Street in Honolulu. Akira Japanese Restaurant recently filed a building permit with Honolulu regulators for its new eatery at 1150 S. King St., which is known as the Eleven50 Building. This building, which was recently purchased by Honolulu businessman Duane Kurisu, includes mostly medical office tenants, including a medical marijuana company. There's an Akira Japanese Restaurant in San Francisco, although it's not known if these two restaurants are connected to one another. Earlier this year, Akira Japanese Restaurant LLC was registered as a new business in Hawaii with Taiki Kawai as one of its managers. Kawai, an executive chef, has worked at Sushi Izakaya Shinn restaurant in Honolulu. Akira Japanese Restaurant joins a crowded field of new restaurants in Honolulu, especially in Chinatown and in Waikiki.

A Japanese college's vacant high-rise tower along Kapiolani Boulevard in Honolulu that has been on the market for several years has been sold for $35 million. The Hawaii Tokai International College, which moved its campus to Kapolei in West Oahu, sold its Honolulu building that overlooks Waikiki to a joint venture involving California real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson and former Hawaii hotel executive Ben Rafter. The sale of the 172,000-square-foot building at 2241 Kapiolani Blvd. closed on Monday.  It originally had an asking price of $42 million. The property has a total assessed value of about $37 million. Several investors looked at buying the Tokai property, including those from China and here locally.  It's not clear as to what the new owners plan to do with the building that occupies a roughly 35,000-square-foot lot.  Current zoning doesn't allow for a hotel on the property, but other options could include re-opening it for educational uses an

A burger and burrito eatery that made its name at farmer's markets and other events on Oahu, has recently opened its first brick-and-mortar space on Kapahulu Avenue in Honolulu. This week, Beyond Burgers Hawaii LLC quietly opened Burgers & Burritos Hawaii inside a space at 760 Kapahulu Ave. Beyond Burgers, headed by Jonathan Hedrick, plans to hold a grand opening for its new digs sometime next month. Beyond Burgers serves Big Island grassfed beef and other local products, as well as burritos and tacos. One of its signature dishes is its all-beef bacon-wrapped hot dogs.

The iconic Father Damien Statue at the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu is set to undergo a renovation. The state Department of Accounting and General Services’ Public Works Division Office has released a request for proposals for the project, which has an estimated construction cost between $250,000 and $500,000. The work will generally consist of the removal and off-site storage of the statue. The existing bases of it will be demolished and new solid granite bases will be installed. The statue will then be reinstalled at its current place at the entrance of the Capitol. The statue, also known as the Saint Damien of Molokai Statue, pays tribute to the legendary Hawaii Catholic Church priest from Belgium who sacrificed his life for the lepers of Molokai. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 and is considered as a hero in Hawaii. There’s also another bronze statue of Saint Damien at the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.  

A Japanese conglomerate has purchased a half-acre parcel of land near the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu for 8.3 million. Kinoshita Real Estate LLC, a subsidiary of Tokyo's Kinoshita Group, which has companies in such industries as film and music production, cosmetics and broadcasting, closed on its purchase of the Hawaii property in June. The property, which is located on Kalakaua Avenue, could be developed into a high-rise condominium tower. The seller was 1700 Kalakaua LLC, which is headed by Mark Borneleit, who purchased the 22,664-square-foot parcel in 2016 from a Japanese company for $7 million. Soon after that purchase, he put the land up for sale with an asking price of $8.6 million. Located at 1617 Fern St., the vacant lot is at the corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Fern Street. The sale includes highly coveted sewer credits that total more than $1 million. In the past, there were plans to build a high-rise mixed-use project on this parcel.  The Kinoshita Group

 Ross Dress for Less is opening a new store at Windward Mall in Kaneohe. The discount retailer filed a $2.5 million building permit with Honolulu regulators on Thursday for its new store at the largest shopping mall on the Windward side of the island. Ross, which recently opened a new store in the Honolulu neighborhood of Iwilei as part of a project involving Longs Drugs and PetSmart, already has a store in Kaneohe at the Windward City Shopping Center. It’s unclear as to whether this would be a second store for Ross in Kaneohe or if the retailer is moving to Windward Mall. The permit lists space “P02” as the location Ross will be opening at Windward Mall. The Sports Authority space is still vacant, although this may be where Ross is moving to. Ross, which also recently opened a new store at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu, has 16 stores in the Islands with another opening in October in Kihei on Maui.