Pflueger Honda now Downtown

[Pomai]

Has anyone seen the new location for Pflueger Honda? It's in the totally WEIRDEST PLACE I can imagine a car dealership to be located. WEIRD!

Pflueger Honda, who was formerly located in front of Kaka'ako Park on Ala Moana Blvd., is now occupying the lobby of the new Capitol Place on the corner of Beretania and Alakea street, where the former open parking lot used to be located.

I passed by there yesterday and was just like, WTF?

I suppose more and more folks working downtown will be buying Honda vehicles now. lol

The Ala Moana Blvd. lot is already mostly vacated. Does anyone know what the plans are for that property? I sure hope it isn't yet another green-glassed "aquarium" condo.

[tutusue]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Aha! Pflueger is one of the developers of that property. Now it makes sense!

[Pomai]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Aha! Pflueger is one of the developers of that property. Now it makes sense!

So does that mean if General Electric were to have developed it, they would be building jet engines in the center of downtown Honolulu?

The zoning laws here don't look right. I can see selling cellphones, or heck even an Apple store there. But cars? Parking rates downtown are already ridiculous as is, and they're storing NEW (still-to-find-an-owner) cars as "inventory" there?

[tutusue]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

So does that mean if General Electric were to have developed it, they would be building jet engines in the center of downtown Honolulu?

The zoning laws here don't look right. I can see selling cellphones, or heck even an Apple store there. But cars? Parking rates downtown are already ridiculous as is, and they're storing NEW (still-to-find-an-owner) cars as "inventory" there?

Appliances, a local NBC headquarters or a medical imaging center maybe, but not jet engines!!!

Dunno how/if the zoning is impacted but it makes sense to me that one of the developers found an opportunity to transplant a business. That's not to say I find a car dealership appropriate for that space. Rather, it looks to me like a financially good move for Pflueger. Who knows...maybe it'll be stocked with hybrids!

[oceanpacific]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Now, they can bring back their former name, DOWNTOWN HONDA, and be accurate .................

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Now, they can bring back their former name, DOWNTOWN HONDA, and be accurate .................

Yep. It would be cool to hear their old TV commercial jingle again.

(To the tune of Help Me Ronda)

Downtown Honda yeah! Serves you right here in town.

And as far as having a car dealership in downtown goes,.... hey, nothing wrong with that! Places like Kakaako and Waipahu have been packed with too many car lots over the years. Pflueger gets points in my book for spreading it out a little.

[joshuatree]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Actually, is the new dealer a full dealer, with the maintenance garage and stockpile of new cars in the same building? Or is it simply a sales showroom? It's really not unusual, the Honda dealer in downtown San Francisco is like that, so is the Toyota there.

[Pomai]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

And as far as having a car dealership in downtown goes,.... hey, nothing wrong with that! Places like Kakaako and Waipahu have been packed with too many car lots over the years. Pflueger gets points in my book for spreading it out a little.

Indeed points for getting out of Kaka'ako. I'll be happy when ALL those dealerships are out of there: Cutter Mazda/VW, Cutter Chevrolet (formerly Honolulu Ford), Volvo, Porsche, and New City Nissan Nissan. At one time that may have been an appropriate area for car lots, but not anymore, IMO.

Then again, I'd rather have low-level car lots than towering green-glass aquarium condos there, if that's where Kaka'ako is headed, which the likes of Hokua, Nauru and Hawa Iki towers all point in that direction.

That said, Pflueger Honda has managed to put BOTH of those under one roof at the most congested location in the state.

I guess we should just be happy it's a Honda dealership and not YUGO. lol

Speaking of zoning and cars, you may be able to buy a car there, but try find a gas station on or near Ala Moana Blvd. or Kapiolani Blvd? Nada. The nearest is a Shell on Ward, or McKinley Car Wash (the only one on Kapiolani until you reach the end where Waialae avenue begins), but their gas is totally overpriced. You have to drive up to King Street to find all the self-serve gas stations with competitive market prices.

[mel]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown



Above is a not so good photo I shot of the place last Thursday. It was a voggy day, so the pic is a little hazy as well as not very well composed. I was across the street near a new plate lunch wagon that I found in the area.

As someone else mentioned earlier, it is not an unusual location for a new car dealership. As I recall, in Hilo right smack in the Prince Kuhio Shopping Center in Hilo once had or maybe still has a Toyota showroom consisting of a few cars.

I think the dealerships for high end Lexus, BMW and Mercedes are pretty nice along Kapiolani Blvd.

I think the Kakaako property where Pflueger Honda used to be comes under the jurisdiction of the HCDA. Since it is makai of Ala Moana Blvd., it is quite possible that it falls in the zone where no high rise buildings are to be developed. There was opposition to high rises in the Kakaako Makai area last year. HCDA had to scale back their plans.

There is a Pflueger Honda used car place on the corner of King and Dillingham just outside of downtown in Kalihi. Used to be a Burger King there.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

If the new Honda dealership is on property that used to be a city parking lot... isn't there a law that the new high-rise has to offer the same number of parking stalls at the old (cheap!) municipal parking rate? That's what Aliʻi Place on Alakea Street had to do, for example.

[joshuatree]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

If the new Honda dealership is on property that used to be a city parking lot... isn't there a law that the new high-rise has to offer the same number of parking stalls at the old (cheap!) municipal parking rate? That's what Aliʻi Place on Alakea Street had to do, for example.

I don't know what the rates are these days but yes, the building has a municipal parking lot in there as well. Part of the agreement.

[Pomai]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

I don't know what the rates are these days but yes, the building has a municipal parking lot in there as well. Part of the agreement.

Wow. To accommodate the building's tenants' cars, a dealership of new cars AND a public municipal lot? The parking structure in there must be huge! According to this PBN article, the dealership occupies the first 3 floors, so apparently they indeed are using that property to store inventory, and not set up as a "boutique" showroom with just one (or two) of each model on display.

As JT asked previously, how about the service department? Is that located on the property as well? If it is (surely it must be), I'd imagine there would be a few environmental impact issues, such as excessive noise from the use of pneumatic tools and other auto service equipment. Of course, the residential units above are mostly fully enclosed with central air, so ANY street-level noise would unlikely be a problem, for them at least.

[joshuatree]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Wow. To accommodate the building's tenants' cars, a dealership of new cars AND a public municipal lot? The parking structure in there must be huge! According to this PBN article, the dealership occupies the first 3 floors, so apparently they indeed are using that property to store inventory, and not set up as a "boutique" showroom with just one (or two) of each model on display.

As JT asked previously, how about the service department? Is that located on the property as well? If it is (surely it must be), I'd imagine there would be a few environmental impact issues, such as excessive noise from the use of pneumatic tools and other auto service equipment. Of course, the residential units above are mostly fully enclosed with central air, so ANY street-level noise would unlikely be a problem, for them at least.

Perhaps multiple basement levels?

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Always wondered how closely related the Pflueger car sellers are to the Plueger racing family, and where the infamous Kauai resident, Jimmy Plueger fits in?

[Eric]

Re: Pflueger Honda now Downtown

Always wondered how closely related the Pflueger car sellers are to the Plueger racing family, and where the infamous Kauai resident, Jimmy Plueger fits in?

Jimmy Pflueger of Kauaʻi is the guy who founded Pflueger Auto Group. (His family has ties to the Hackfeld family, as in H. Hackfeld, later renamed to Amfac.) The current president of Pflueger Auto Group is Jimmy Pflueger's son Alan Pflueger, who is the racing guy.