Christopher Ulu, owner of StorKeeper Self Storage in Honolulu, is developing a mixed-use project that will include self-storage, shared office space, an indoor swapmeet and more in Kapolei, a master-planned city in West Oahu, Hawaii. Slated to open in 2016, Hawaii Ohana Marketplace will be housed in a 150,000-square-foot, air-conditioned building. The swapmeet will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Ulu began working on the marketplace idea seven years ago, according to meeting minutes from the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board No. 34, the source reported. The board consists of community members who represent the group’s interests at meetings.

Hawaii Ohana Marketplace will connect locals and tourists with bakeries, a fitness center, a fish market, produce stands, restaurants and specialty food stores. It will feature a farmer’s market to promote healthy food options and lifestyles, according to the website. It will also include 2,000 square feet of office space as well as conference rooms, mailboxes for rent, and space for meetings and other events. Vendors will be able to leave their merchandise in their respective spaces, Ulu told the board.

“[It] would be an affordable and permanent space for entrepreneurs to start their businesses,” he said, noting that recent changes in Hawaii’s small-merchant and kiosk market have made the development possible. These changes include the closure of the International Market Place in Waikiki in 2013, which is being redeveloped into a mixed-use center, the source reported.

The self-storage facility will feature two unit sizes: 4-by-8-by-8 and 4-by-8-by-4. The property, open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., will sell packing and moving supplies and include security features such as electronic gate access, lighting, perimeter fencing and video cameras.

Ulu is a former Golden Gloves welterweight boxer who worked as a manager for several self-storage companies before opening StorKeeper in 2010. In addition to self-storage, the property offers office space and truck rental.

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