The 345,000-square-foot International Market Place officially reopened its doors Thursday in Waikiki, welcoming thousands of visitors, residents and local officials to peruse the $475 million overhaul at the open-air shopping mall.
First opened in 1956, the 4.5-acre market was once best known as a place to pick up inexpensive souvenirs at a collection of outdoor bazaar shops surrounding a massive banyan tree. But the market's owner, Queen Emma Land Co., partnered with mainland developers Taubman Centers and CoastWood Capital Group to break ground on the extensive renovation project in the spring of 2014, transforming the site into a three-story facility now home to about 100 high-end retailers and restaurants, including Hawaii's only Saks Fifth Avenue.
Eager for a firsthand look, I stopped by the grand opening Thursday morning and was impressed by the scale of the place. However, folks who remember the quaint collection of small shops and often dimly lit restaurants and bars of the International Market Place prior to 2014 might have a hard time recognizing the overhauled version today. The glitzy, multifloor layout is a dramatic change, featuring a 700-stall parking facility and even valet parking.
Still, the site's 160-year-old banyan certainly appears to have been lovingly preserved, and perhaps not surprisingly, the colossal tree seemed to be the most popular feature of the mall.
And while many of the retailers and restaurants weren't yet ready to welcome customers, there was an unmistakable excitement among the mix of locals and visitors wandering through the new facility, with many folks standing in lines for promotional giveaways while others snapped selfies or enjoyed the range of live music played throughout the mall.
"From dining under the sun and stars on the spectacular grand lanai to the excellent retail and entertainment, International Market Place will once again serve as a special gathering place for residents and tourists in the heart of Waikiki," Robert Taubman, the president and CEO of Taubman Centers, said in a statement. "We believe it will become a premier destination on the island."
Surrounded by an array of existing high-end shopping options on its Kalakaua Avenue side, the new International Market Place's most transformative impact may well be on Kuhio Avenue, which has been something of a second-class thoroughfare through Waikiki in the past. Walking along the Saks Fifth Avenue storefront on Kuhio this morning, directly across the street from the recently opened Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Beach, it wasn't hard for me to picture a revitalized and more welcoming avenue.
Renovation work is underway now, for example, at the former 250-room Aqua Waikiki Wave hotel, which is immediately west of the International Market Place. After a quick peek at that construction site, it was clear developers have gutted most of the rooms at the property, where the plan is to reopen as a Marriott Autograph Collection in the first quarter next year.
And immediately west of the former Aqua Waikiki Wave, work is also now underway at what was once the Waikiki Trade Center high-rise, also owned by the Queen Emma Land Co., where a new Nordstrom Rack retailer is set to open in September and later this year the new 230-room Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach is slated to welcome guests.
It may not be long before those of us familiar with the old International Market Place, and a very different Waikiki, might find ourselves saying, "I hardly recognize Kuhio Avenue anymore."