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Waikele Shopping Center origins

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  • Waikele Shopping Center origins

    When was this outlet mall built during the early 90's right? So that isnt very long ago so I'm curious what used to sit on that property or location years ago.

    I saw Wave Waikiki was torn down yesterday and is just pieces of rubble and I hate to say it but with it gone now I almost have forgotten what used to be there if you know what I mean. You drive by it and it's no longer there, it seems that is happening alot on Oahu these days.

    Thanks! KalihiBoy

  • #2
    Re: Waikele Shopping Center origins

    I don't think there was anything there, really. At least, not a "lost landmark" or other pre-existing development. Waikele Premium Outlets (a.k.a. "Waikele" the shopping spot) went up along with "Waikele" the subdivision -- which I playfully called "Waipahu Heights," much to the dismay of a friend of mine who moved there before the paint was dry on her place.

    According to this profile of "New Neighborhoods," the area was old sugar cane land that went fallow in 1982. The first homes were completed by 1991. Describe in the piece as an "upgrade" for folks in Waipio Gentry or Wapio, there was "new affordable and single-family homes, the state's first outlet center, a new elementary school and an 18-hole golf course."

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    • #3
      Re: Waikele Shopping Center origins

      That whole area was a mistake to build on in the first place. When I used to work for the Gas Company and Gentry built up Waipio Gentry, that land was built up on old pineapple or sugarcane lands. Back in the old days ground termites were brought in to aerate the soil for better drainage. Ground Termites!! Well the agriculture left but the termites stayed and then homes were built upon that termite rich soil. Guess what within ten years from groundbreaking to rental abuse, I saw these Waipio Gentry homes literally become termite ridden with main support beams on two-story units turning to cabbage. I was working on one house checking a remote gas reader (zero property lots meant gas meters were locked in the neighbor's fenced in yard) when a handyman inside doing a kitchen remod screamed when he removed the header underneath an over-the-sink cabinet.

      He found the motherload...queen termite and the whole nest inside this hidden part of the cabinet. The queen literally fell onto his face along with the hundreds of thousands of crawling larvae. The queen was about 8-10 inches long and maybe three inches across and white.

      Before I could tell him to put it in a box and get suddenly rich he smashed it to a pulp with his claw hammer. I guess he thought it was an alien the way he was screaming like maniacal woman in Scary Movie 2


      But to stay OT, that whole area was nothing but ag land before Eagle Hardware (now Lowes) came up across the street.
      Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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      • #4
        Re: Waikele Shopping Center origins

        Craig, thank you for scarring my psyche.

        grugmgrumblequeenmotherloadrgrumgurmbwwillieswilli esaaaacck!

        pax

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