Puna Kai developer files for bankruptcy, raising uncertainty in Pahoa

A developer behind Big Island shopping-center projects filed for bankruptcy, putting Puna Kai Shopping Center in Pahoa and the businesses inside it into uncertainty. The filing raises questions about leases, maintenance, financing and any planned buildout at one of East Hawaii’s most important retail hubs.

For Pahoa, the stakes are immediate. Puna Kai has become a place where residents shop, work and handle errands at businesses such as Malama Market, Pahoa Animal Hospital, Popeyes Chicken and Fitness Forever. A court case involving the center’s developer could affect how quickly those tenants can negotiate leases, whether future improvements move ahead, and how much pressure creditors place on the property.

The July 22 filing lands on a center that has been central to Puna’s commercial growth for years. In September 2017, the developer was still seeking area entrepreneurs. By August 2019, a grand opening had been set for October, and by October 2019, most shops were expected to be open by Thanksgiving. The pace of openings slowed in May 2020, when some launch plans were delayed because of Gov. David Ige’s order during the COVID-19 outbreak, even as workers with Main Turf Hawaii were laying down turf for a park at the site.

Puna Kai’s own site says construction was completed in 2021. The center has since been described as bringing new life and relief to Pahoa town, especially in a district where retail choices have long been thinner than in larger commercial corridors on Hawaii Island. File photos from 2023 showed a woman crossing the street at the complex and a Goodwill location there, underscoring how quickly the property became woven into daily life in East Hawaii.

The property is identified as owner-operated by Willow Plaza, L.L.C./Meridian Pacific. Meridian Pacific says its Hawaii business began in 1985 and includes work on Hawaii Kai Shopping Center, Koko Marina Shopping Center, Mililani Shopping Center, Windward Mall and Waipahu Town Center on Oahu. That wider portfolio matters now because financial strain at the developer level could ripple beyond Pahoa, shaping creditor claims, ownership decisions and whether the center’s next chapter becomes a cleanup or a fresh round of redevelopment.