The ground breaking for the planned Target store at Kona Commons happened yesterday(here,here, and here).
The Honolulu Advertiser article was particularly interesting. Especially the part detailing the other tenants whom are going to occupy this shopping center. I’m really looking forward to Circuit City and Office Max opening especially.
On a related note, it seems the developer of Kona Commons was a bit more upbeat in building Phase III of this this shopping center compared to about a year ago.
From this WHT article:
“However, Kona Commons will likely not immediately usurp the Prince Kuhio Plaza as the largest shopping center on the Big Island. When it was first announced, Kona Commons was planned at 685,000 square feet of retailing space, making it more than 25 percent larger than the 505,000-square-foot Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo.”
“Dinsmore said that may not be out of the question in the future, but he added that current market conditions are not conducive to such a large mall. “It will be dictated by the retailers,” said Dinsmore. “If there is a demand, then we’ll expand (makai, toward the old Kona Airport).”
As for Target opening a store here, I strongly feel that this will give the Big Kmart a run for its money. Sears was planning on renovating our Big Kmart about 1.5 years ago. But ultimately decided to scuttle those plans. With Target opening, if Big Kmart wants to remain competitive, they really need to re-examine those renovation plans.
I found this CNN Money article on a on a class action lawsuit filed against Matson Navigation very interesting. Allegedly Matson conspired with Horizon Lines to raise their fuel surcharge at a much higher rate than the actual increase in fuel prices since 1999. If this proves to be true hopefully the DOJ will throw the book at these companies for making excessive profits at the expense of the residents and businesses here in Hawaii.
