Architects Hawaii Garners Top Design Award in National Competition

By Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

Honolulu–Architects Hawaii is the gold winner in the retail store design category of the International Council of Shopping Centers 2015 U.S. Design and Development Awards competition for the design of Walgreens’ Hawaii flagship store.

Walgreens Keeaumoku Flagship Store in Honolulu

The 36,700-square-foot building is located across from Ala Moana Center in downtown Honolulu, on the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and Keeaumoku Street, known to many as “the corner of Main & Main.”

Open since February, the store resulted from the redevelopment of a smaller retail unit. Known as Walgreens Keeaumoku Flagship Store, the project marks the drugstore chain’s 15th flagship location and 18th store in Hawaii. Its design is locally relevant, paying homage to the Hawaiian culture in a modern and contextually appropriate way, using the Ala Moana region’s past—a popular fishing area—for inspiration.

According to the Pacific Business News, Walgreens Keeaumoku will now move to ICSC’s VIVA Awards competition that recognizes the real estate industry’s most cutting-edge properties, innovative solutions and creative responses to market trends globally.

Walgreens recently sold the store along with the adjacent Heald College Building to Los Angeles-based investment bank and wealth management firm Salem Partners for a total of $73.5 million, as first reported by the source.

Image courtesy of Architects Hawaii