Shimogawa Scoops

Safeway has signed a 20-year lease (with options to extend) for approximately 50,000 square feet in the former Sports Authority space at the Waikele Center in Waipahu in Central Oahu.  The store is anticipated to open in the third or fourth quarter of 2019. Waikele Center also is home to such well-known brands as Office Max, Gap, Brooks Brothers, GameStop, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Subway, Chili’s Grill and McDonald’s. The 538,000-square-foot shopping center is highly visible from the H-1 Freeway. Originally developed on former sugar cane fields and opened in 1993, Waikele Center became one of the true success stories of Hawaii retail and was billed as the state’s first “Power Center.”  

Nuuanu Okazuya, a popular Japanese restaurant near Downtown Honolulu, has recently expanded into a next door space that now allows the eatery to offer seating, the restaurant’s owner confirmed to Shimogawa Scoops. Located along Nuuanu Avenue, the eatery, which has been around for decades, is known for its traditional Japanese-style okazu including fishcakes, tempuras, teri-hamburger and furikake-crusted garlic chicken, among other tasty dishes. Nuuanu Okazuya now has a separate kitchen area and a seating/serving area in its two spaces. The expansion bucks the trend of okazu eateries across the state closing down or downsizing.

A major solar energy farm, spanning hundreds of acres of land in West Oahu near the University of Hawaii campus that would be the largest of its kind in Hawaii is in the works, Shimogawa Scoops has learned. The project, which was mentioned in last week’s board of regents meeting, would include 244,740 solar panels, totaling about 64 megawatts. By comparison, the largest solar farm in Hawaii is about 27 megawatts, and is located in Waianae in West Oahu. The UH West Oahu solar farm would be located next to a planned 120-acre agricultural and social enterprise project that is located on Class “A” ag lands.

Starbucks Coffee is likely opening a new location near the University of Hawaii Manoa as part of the new student housing project being built across from Puck’s Alley on University Avenue, Shimogawa Scoops has learned. Located at 2615 South King St., the Hale Mahana student housing project also will include numerous commercial spaces on the ground floor. Starbucks fits perfectly, not only in Hale Mahana, but also in the area that’s home to tens of thousands of college students. The Seattle-based coffee giant has more than 100 stores across Hawaii.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has purchased more oceanfront land in Hawaii that’s located within the hundreds of acres he already owns on the island of Kauai, Shimogawa Scoops has learned. The billionaire has been pretty successful in his controversial attempt to gain full control of the oceanfront lands he purchased a few years ago on Kauai’s North Shore. More than a year ago, Zuckerberg, who is one of the richest men on the planet, made headlines around the world for filing lawsuits against small landowners within his hundreds of acres on the Garden Isle to force these landowners to sell their lands to him. However, after much pushback, Zuckerberg decided to drop his lawsuits and proceeded through other processes. One of those main steps, though, includes buying those small parcels from its owners. It’s something that continued throughout last year, including the latest sale happening just a couple of weeks ago, involving a 33,106-square-foot parcel with a 552-square-f