With construction starts slow across the state at this point in the market, a group of saviors has come out of the dust and is prepared to invest heavily in our state. The attached article goes into detail regarding eight stores that Safeway is planning within Hawaii and nine more stores that Walgreen’s is planning. In addition to this, Best Buy, Lowe’s, and Long’s Drugstores are actively seeking development opportunities.
The interesting part of this is that these are retailers funding bricks and mortar construction out of their own pockets. Some of the developers, like Safeway, are building much larger centers than they need for their own use, but use this opportunity to control locations. If they are patient, they will make some money on the development with a sale three to seven years down the road.