Could downtown Honolulu become the next Soho? Soho was a posh neighborhood in London and in New York, SoHo, short for South of Houston Street, became a magnet for trendy shops and art galleries.
How does the sound of Soho strike you? If you are Christine Camp, it might sound like music to your ears. She is the president and CEO of the Honolulu-based Avalon Group — a real estate development firm.
She just closed on the Topa Financial Center towers at the corner of Bishop and Queen streets, an area she wants to see rebranded as DoHo to mark the revitalization of downtown Honolulu.
Camp said that many hotel operators want to have their hotels downtown, which has the highest visitor concentration after Waikīkī, according to Placer.ai. People go for entertainment, food and the arts. However, those visitors don't stay in the area very long.
Part of the revitalization plan is to make parking easier. Camp now controls eight properties and over 1,800 parking spaces.
"But what is most important, in my view, was always making the parking accessible because that will bring the locals back — so not just those who work in downtown. So the parking accessibility is now possible with our control of so many parking stalls," she said.
Downtown Honolulu is home to various art galleries, and Camp said Avalon intends to support those efforts and keep them going.
"There's something going on almost every day. We want to support that effort. There's new galleries opening. There's existing galleries thriving, seeking support, and asking people to come back," she said.
Avalon also plans to open six new pickleball courts on Jan. 20, as part of the revitalization effort, at the former Walmart building. The location will eventually have 15 courts.
The property will be called Forte as a tribute to Fort Street Mall where the project is being developed. In February 2024, the real estate firm announced it had purchased the former Walmart building for $38 million.
Camp shared that she resigned from most of her community board services as she is focused on working on the revitalization of downtown.
"My community service will be working on downtown and so it is our absolute focus to make sure that downtown and the DoHo district will be what we envision it to be, along with all of the other owners," she said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Dec. 24, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
