Real-estate companies purchase high-end retail space in Waikiki

Real-estate companies purchase high-end retail space in Waikiki
By Brian Berusch

WAIKIKI -- New York-based Metropole Realty Advisors and Heller Properties purchased the 2100 Kalakaua Ave. building in Waikiki for $156 million.

The luxury retail complex houses such shops as Gucci, Tiffany & Co. and Chanel, but Metropole CEO and founder Robert Siegel said he has more in mind for the retail space known as “Luxury Row.”

“We are also going to be designing a VIP room on the third floor of 2100 Kalakaua that will offer a unique experience to luxury shoppers in Waikiki.

“Personal shoppers, mailing services and limousine arrangements are all things that will be organized upstairs,” he said.

The 2100 Kalakaua building was sold to Metropole by a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers. It has 111,000 square feet of retail space.

This is the first purchase the company has made in Honolulu, although it has been consulting and developing in the area for nearly 30 years, according to Siegel.

“When Ferragamo, Burberry and Ermenengildo Zegna wanted to put roots down in Honolulu, we acted as a broker for all the deals and have been tracking how well they’ve all been doing throughout the years,” Siegel said.

“In the early ‘80s we began moving into some developing of our own,” he said.

Now it’s time to purchase in Honolulu, he said.

The owners said they were attracted to the investment, in part, by the promise of some 9,000 additional hotel rooms in Waikiki in the next eight years.

Metropole investment adviser Mathias Guerrand-Hermes described 2100 Kalakaua as a collection of independent townhouse boutiques with the streetfront look of New York’s Madison Avenue. Metropole’s portfolio includes properties on Madison Avenue.

Siegel, speaking about what the future holds for Metropole in Hawaii, said a purchase “in another area in Honolulu is always possible, and Maui is certainly not out of the question.” He cited Wailea and Kapalua as examples of locations frequented by high-end travelers.

Metropole also purchased a luxury retail center on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif., for $20 million late last year and is looking for similar properties in New York; Chicago; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Palm Beach, Fla.; and Boston.

The company has no holdings in Europe, but Siegel told TravelWeekly.com that such purchases possibly are on the horizon.

To contact reporter Brian Berusch, send e-mail to traveledit@excite.com.