Puna Kai ... maybe in 2020?

[kalakoa]

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/202...continues/

Deveoper now says "entire center will be open by May", but nobody has requested their final:

County Department of Public Works spokeswoman Denise Laitinen said in a recent email that no certificates of occupancy, which are issued for every new tenant prior to opening, have been issued for any business within the Puna Kai development.

“All reviewing departments require that the necessary improvements are complete, or nearly so, prior to signing this application,” Laitinen said. “ … A request must come from the contractor so ‘when’ is determined by the construction schedules, but must be completed prior to opening.”

[My 2 cents]

He said May, he didn't say what year.

[macuu222]

They should never give a timeline for completing any building project in Puna. Better to just say that it will open when its finished and leave it like that.

[kalakoa]

he didn't say what year

Then there was no need to update the forecast from "by November".

[randomq]

Why rush to open, simply to lose money and ultimately close due to lack of customers? The county should just skip all that and buy out the shops for regional EBT and unemployment offices.

[kander]

A string of natural disasters have affected Pahoa for sure, Between lava and hurricanes so much of the customer base has left in the past 4 years and what vacation rentals were are no more in numbers like they were.
Growth gone into negative numbers. Perhaps they need not repay construction loans until final?

[kalakoa]

A string of natural disasters have affected Pahoa for sure

No, the Building department is County-wide.

[macuu222]

A rep of the Puna Kai Shopping center sent me a message this morning. I had asked last Friday "when do they expect to have stores open? Let me guess...still waiting for the building department"?.....Their answer.... "Good guess. As of now, the first batch of tenants are on track to open early next month".

[kalakoa]

As of now, the first batch of tenants are on track to open early next month

February quoted in the HTH article has already slipped to March, then.

Gee, I wonder why everything in Hawaii is so expensive?

[Obie]

Major movement today. I just drove by and they are re-striping the road and turning on the traffic lights.
Steps that had to done before any openings.