Food Court Closed For Renovations

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An artist’s illustration shows the proposed look for Windward Mall’s expanded food court area. Art courtesy of the mall.

Hungry shoppers will have to dine outside of the food court at Windward Mall for the next year while the area is closed for renovation and expansion.

The entire food court shut down at the end of the business day on New Year’s Eve, and all tenants should be completely out by this Friday. Scheduled to begin mid-January, crews will demolish the current food court, install new plumbing and sewer lines, and have a new, larger eating area ready by next Christmas.

General manager Jonathan Kim is excited about the project because it means that the final phase of the mall’s overall renovation will be complete.

“Everything, all the common area, was completed in August 2007, except for the food court and restrooms by the food court. One of the reasons being the food court was master leased for the past 25 years to one entity, and that lease expired at the end of January 2007,” said Kim. “This will complete the total renovation of the interior of the mall, which is 25 years old.”

The new food court, added Kim, will double in size to 18,590 square feet and expand out to Sears, past the corridor area where it now ends. It will have space for 10 tenants and 206 more seats, bringing total seating to 408. Landlord Kamehameha Schools has hired New Design LLC to design the project, which will be inspired by the land it sits on and will reflect the land, ocean and agricultural elements of the Windward side. General contractor is Gateside Inc.Video monitors also will be a part of the new court, with one showing cultural videos and others to broadcast advertisements or special events.

Current food court tenants include Blazin Steaks, Cafe Rein, Chinatown Express, Cinnabon, The Cookie Corner, I Love Country Cafe, Little Tokyo and Mama Woo’s BBQ. There’s also the newly opened Sweet Fries, one of a few temporary eateries that were opened to fill space until construction started.

“A lot of these temporary tenants are trying out a new food concept; all those tenants in there were temporary tenants, month to month, or tenants on a hold-over basis,” explained Kim.

Other tenants, such as Get Wet, Kiki Tiki and 24/7 Danceforce, are being moved elsewhere in the mall, as they will be affected by the construction.

“Hopefully, we want to open by next fall, before the holidays. Besides renovating and the building of the common-area part of the food court, individual tenants have to build their particular space. The plan is to turn over the individual stalls to the tenants, and they’ll have a period of time to build their improvements.”

Remaining open for diners, meanwhile, are IHOP, Ruby Tuesday, Arby’s, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor, Boston’s North End Pizza Bakery, Subway, Hot Dog on a Stick, Panda Express, Taco Del Mar, Ninja Sushi, Ben & Jerry’s and The Gazebo in Macy’s.