PEARLRIDGE CENTER
Kamehameha Highway and Kaonohi Street
Honolulu City & County, Hawai'i
The fourth shopping mall on the island of O'ahu was built 7.5 miles northwest of the Hawai'i State House, in the Aiea ["iy-ah-ay"] section of Honolulu. PEARLRIDGE CENTER was to eventually occupy 51.8 acres of a 67.9-acre plot. The parcel was shared with the 13.3-acre Sumida (watercress) Farm. The land on which PEARLRIDGE CENTER was built was leased from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Trust Estate.
The mall was developed by the Kaonohi Center Company, which was a joint venture of E. Phillip Lyon, Sheldon M. Gordon, Ed Brennan, John Fujieki and the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. A PHASE I structure was designed by Robert P. Gersin Associates of New York City.
A 2-level (109,000 square foot), Honolulu-based Liberty House became the first store to open at the site, on October 28, 1971. Liberty House anchored the 2-level PHASE I mall, along with a 2-level (102,900 square foot) J.C. Penney. This store welcomed first shoppers on May 16, 1972.
Fifty-six PHASE 1 stores opened in June 1972. These included Joseph Magnin, ABC Discount Drugs, Ritz Store, Playwell Toys, Foxmoor Casuals, Hartfield's apparel, Pearlridge Book Nook, See's Candies, Thom McAn Shoes and a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour & Restaurant.
The 650,000 square foot PEARLRIDGE CENTER was officially dedicated on August 9, 1972. The mall included a prototype food court. Known as the International Kitchen, it featured thirteen vendors. There was also a rooftop parking deck over the mall proper and J.C. Penney. One of the final operational PHASE I stores, a (17,000 square foot) Daiei ["diy-ay"] Asian Market, was dedicated on November 19, 1972.
A freestanding CONVENIENCE CENTER was built in the southwest corner of the site. It housed eleven tenant spaces, with the largest occupied by a Star Supermarket. A 2-level (220,000 square foot) Sears opened, on the south end of the site, on October 2, 1974. Built as a freestanding store, Sears became the anchor of a 400,000 square foot PHASE II mall.
A freestanding CONVENIENCE CENTER was built in the southwest corner of the site. It housed eleven tenant spaces, with the largest occupied by a Star Supermarket. A 2-level (220,000 square foot) Sears opened, on the south end of the site, on October 2, 1974. Built as a freestanding store, Sears became the anchor of a 400,000 square foot PHASE II mall.
This structure was designed by Robert B. Liles, of San Francisco, and the Los Angeles-based firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall. Ground was broken on May 16, 1974, with the PHASE II mall being completed in the fall of 1975.
PHASE II consisted of 3 levels, with most of the first floor dedicated to covered parking. A rooftop parking deck covered the mall proper, but did not extend over Sears. Some original stores were Kinney Shoes and a (26,000 square foot) Longs Drugs. A 3-level (120,000 square foot) Daiei opened on November 18, 1975, as a replacement for a smaller PHASE I store. The new PHASE II Daiei included a supermarket, specialty department store and Volks Steakhouse.
Soon after the completion of PHASE II, a monorail station was added to the PHASE I structure's rooftop parking deck. This station became the western terminal of the new SkyCab monorail. This .2 mile transit system, which connected the PHASE I and PHASE II structures, made its first official run on November 7, 1977.
PHASE III, a single-level strip center, was built across the street from the PHASE II mall. It housed the Consolidated Theatres Pearlridge Theatres 1-2-3-4. This venue showed first features on July 11, 1976. It was the first 4-plex cinema in Hawai'i.
Japan-based Shirokiya ["shuh-doh-ki-yuh"] opened a PEARLRIDGE store on April 2, 1981. It was located in the original Daiei Asian market space, in the Phase I mall. The PHASE II Daiei closed its doors on April 30, 1986. A second cinema complex was installed in PHASE II Level 3 space. The Consolidated Theatres Pearlridge West Theatres 12 debuted on November 20, 1987.
Major shopping malls in the PEARLRIDGE trade area were all located in the City & County of Honolulu. These included ALA MOANA CENTER (1959) {8.6 miles southeast}, WAI'ALAE ["wiy-uh-liy"] CENTER-KAHALA MALL (1954 & 1970) {12.1 miles southeast} and WINDWARD MALL (1982) {9 miles northeast}.
A multilevel parking structure was built along with the PHASE II mall. It extended, over Pali Momi Street, to the PHASE III building. A second parking garage was added, west of Liberty House, in 1989. Third and fourth garages were completed, at the east end of the mall site, in 1990. With these improvements, PEARLRIDGE CENTER encompassed approximately 1,250,000 leasable square feet.
The 1990s brought another commercial competitor for PEARLRIDGE CENTER. The open-air WAIKELA CENTER {4.3 miles northwest, in Honolulu City & County} was completed in 1993. During 1996, the entirety of PEARLRIDGE CENTER was given a 3.5 million dollar face lift. At this time, the PHASE I mall was renamed UPTOWN; PHASE II as DOWNTOWN. PHASE III became PEARLRIDGE EAST and the western outparcel (with a new Circuit City) became PEARLRIDGE WEST.
The existing 12-plex cinema was expanded with a 4-screen, stadium-seating venue, which opened on December 18, 1998. This theater was located beneath the Level 3 DOWNTOWN 12-plex. These adjacent multiplexes were renamed Pearlridge West 16. The original 4-plex in PHASE III-PEARLRIDGE EAST was shuttered in the year 2000 and converted into office spaces.
Anchor store rebrandings commenced on November 22, 2001, with the conversion of Liberty House to Macy's. The adjacent Shirokiya had been shuttered in March 2001. The store space was eventually leased by Macy's. They refashioned it into a dance club-motif, teen fashion store called Thisit ("This Is It"), which opened in June 2002.
J.C. Penney closed all Aloha State stores on January 10, 2003. The PEARLRIDGE building sat vacant for over a year. It was eventually subdivided into twenty-nine store spaces, with the new mall wing named UPTOWN II. Retailers began opening in November 2004. Stores would eventually include Kay Jewelers, Moe's Southwest Grill, Tiki Tiki, a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, (31,000 square foot) Borders Books and (24,800 square foot) Price Busters.
Anchor store rebrandings commenced on November 22, 2001, with the conversion of Liberty House to Macy's. The adjacent Shirokiya had been shuttered in March 2001. The store space was eventually leased by Macy's. They refashioned it into a dance club-motif, teen fashion store called Thisit ("This Is It"), which opened in June 2002.
J.C. Penney closed all Aloha State stores on January 10, 2003. The PEARLRIDGE building sat vacant for over a year. It was eventually subdivided into twenty-nine store spaces, with the new mall wing named UPTOWN II. Retailers began opening in November 2004. Stores would eventually include Kay Jewelers, Moe's Southwest Grill, Tiki Tiki, a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, (31,000 square foot) Borders Books and (24,800 square foot) Price Busters.
Borders and Price Busters closed in September and December 2011, respectively. The Price Busters space was taken by T.J. Maxx, which opened May 17, 2012. The old Borders became a Ross Dress For Less. This store was dedicated on October 10, 2013.
Meanwhile, in August 2010, PEARLRIDGE structures -excluding the land- were acquired by a joint venture of New York City's Blackstone Group and Columbus, Ohio's Glimcher Realty Trust. The Simon Property Group created a spin-off Real Estate Investment Trust in May 2014. Known as the Washington Prime Group, it merged with the Glimcher Realty Trust in early 2015. A 49-percent interest in four malls -one being PEARLRIDGE CENTER- was sold to New York City's O'Conner Capital Partners.
Meanwhile, in August 2010, PEARLRIDGE structures -excluding the land- were acquired by a joint venture of New York City's Blackstone Group and Columbus, Ohio's Glimcher Realty Trust. The Simon Property Group created a spin-off Real Estate Investment Trust in May 2014. Known as the Washington Prime Group, it merged with the Glimcher Realty Trust in early 2015. A 49-percent interest in four malls -one being PEARLRIDGE CENTER- was sold to New York City's O'Conner Capital Partners.
A 33 million dollar renovation of the DOWNTOWN mall commenced in March 2017. Its interior and exterior were updated, the Downtown Food Court refurbished, and cinema downsized back into a 12-plex. Two freestanding stores were built. New mall tenants included Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Lindbergh men's wear, Pieology Pizza and a Down To Earth natural foods grocer. The remodeling was completed in late 2018.
In 2019, the PEARLRIDGE malls and strip centers were renamed for a second time, this as a homage to Hawaiian culture. UPTOWN became PEARLRIDGE MAUKA, with DOWNTOWN now being promoted as PEARLRIDGE WAI MAKAI. The western strip center morphed into PEARLRIDGE KO MAKAI; the eastern complex evolved into PEARLRIDGE AWA MAKAI.
In the 2020s, PEARLRIDGE was the state's largest fully-enclosed shopping
center. It spanned around 1,288,600 leasable square feet and featured
170 stores and services. One of these closed for good in the early 2020s. Sears went dark on April 18, 2021, after over 46 years in business.
Sources:
The Honolulu Star Bulletin
Sources:
The Honolulu Star Bulletin
The Honolulu Advertiser
http://www.pearlridgeonline.com
http://www.pearlridgeonline.com
https://www.pearlridgeonline.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.staradvertiser.com
http://mallmanac.blogspot.com
http://www.staradvertiser.com
http://mallmanac.blogspot.com
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.westernmassnews.com
http://www.hawaiithreads.com
http://www.hawaiistores.com
http://www.westernmassnews.com
http://www.hawaiithreads.com
http://www.hawaiistores.com
https://www.khon2.com
https://realproperty.honolulu.gov / Honolulu City and County, Hawai'i
https://www.mallscenters.com
"Pearlridge Center" article on Wikipedia
"Pearlridge Center" article on Wikipedia
