Sachse Construction was hired to perform the landlord work and lead the tenant coordination for the International Market Place mall in Honolulu, HI. Sachse Construction worked with the client to complete various landlord work projects throughout the mall, such as Sugarfina, Tesla’s elevator, storage rooms, and various white box spaces for future tenants. The mall is located on Kalakaua Avenue, which is rated the fifth top retail street in North America after Fifth Avenue in New York, North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and Union Square in San Francisco. International Market Place was built on a postage size lot, located in one of the most densely populated areas of Hawaii. Delivery access to the loading docks was limited to a one-lane road, which was shared by another market across the street. Heavy traffic proved to be a major challenge for deliveries, as the road was frequented by trucks. Additionally, because of neighboring hotels, tenants were only able to use the loading docks from 6:00 am – 3:00 pm.

Sachse Construction’s tenant coordination team was proactive with the loading dock issue and developed a custom scheduling system for the retailers to avoid having multiple deliveries at one time. Retailers utilized this system to reserve delivery times, which were carefully monitored by the tenant coordination team.

Additionally, Sachse Construction coordinated with shipping companies to utilize holding containers at the ports to store materials as they arrived until the scheduled delivery to the project site. Sachse Construction provided labeled holding containers for retailers that were easily transportable and accessible. By utilizing the scheduling system, the team was able to ensure there was no backup of trucks, the noise restrictions were followed, deliveries were on time, and holding containers went to the appropriate stores. Another challenge the team encountered was the turnover of the GLA from the base contractor. The base contractor was four months behind schedule, which posed the risk of tenants not being able to move in on time. To overcome this obstacle, Sachse’s tenant coordination team, which has experience with general contracting and construction management, assessed the base contractor’s schedule. The Sachse team was able to devise new plans and routes to get the bases turned over earlier for the retailers to ensure they could buildout their stores on time. Due to the time restraints for tenants to move in, the Sachse team proactively ordered additional long lead time materials the retailers might have needed at the last minute. Materials included storefronts, Lexan glass windows, and water source heat pumps. If materials arrived broken or behind schedule, retailers were relieved to utilize the extra materials Sachse’s tenant coordination team kept on hand. In addition to proactively ordering additional materials, Sachse’s team also contracted various skilled trades a month in advance of the opening. The reasoning behind this was strict licensing rules. Trade partners could not be brought from the mainland to buildout stores. This created a shortage of skilled labor on the island, as there was a limited amount of trade partners on the island with the capabilities to handle this large of a project. Knowing this would pose a challenge for retailers to open their stores on time, these additional plumbers, masons, carpenters, and electricians were hired in advance to handle last-minute projects on an as-need basis for the tenants. Thanks to careful planning and the experience of the tenant coordination team, each tenant was able to successfully open their store on time for the mall’s grand opening.