HONOLULU -- The owner of the Ward Warehouse, Ward Centre and Ward Gateway properties on Wednesday unveiled a massive plan to cover Auahi Street and build more stores and 4,000 condominiums in the area.

General Growth Properties, the owner of the area, has released plans for new developments that would make Auahi Street a large, central plaza as a place for community events and concerts.

And the plans call for residential condos.

"We see Ward Center as today being home to no one, in the future being home for 4,000 families, and we see it providing 20 percent of those being reserve housing, and we see it being a wide range of prices," said Thomas D'Alesandro of GGP.

There are 150 businesses in the area. There could be 200 when the renovation is complete, company officials said.

"It could be more than 12 phases. We don't know exactly a function of other forces. So, as we take out a block here, or a block there, we'll be looking to relocate as many of our merchants and tenants as can to existing or new spaces to minimize the disruption," D'Alesandro said.

The first to go will be warehouses on the Ewa side of the movie theaters. Eventually Ward Warehouse and Ward Centre will be demolished.

"You won't see a change overnight, but if you do slow motion photography over a long period of time you'll see dramatic changes," D'Alesandro said.

The company plans the development as a 20-year project. The Hawaii Community Development Authority and the city must still approve the proposal.