Panda Express Plans 22nd Hawaii location

Three years after buying the site of a former gas station, Panda Express plans to open a restaurant at 1505 S. King St. by the end of this year.

California-based Panda Restaurant Group bought the quarter-acre site of the former Lionel’s Union 76, between Kaheka Street and Kalakaua Avenue, for $2.1 million in 2007.

It initially had planned to open a 2,400-square-foot Chinese fast-food restaurant with a drive-through window last summer, but plans stalled while it was opening six other Hawaii locations in the past three years.

The King Street restaurant will add to 21 other Panda Express locations in the state.