Gov. David Ige on Tuesday helped bless a soon-to-be-occupied apartment complex for middle-income residents that was developed with state financial help.

The blessing ceremony was held for Keauhou Lane, a $90 million midrise in Kakaako with 209 units developed by Oregon-based Gerding Edlen on land owned by Kamehameha Schools.

The state chipped in a $5 million low-interest loan and waived general excise tax payments on construction expenses and residential tenant rental income in return for keeping the project reserved for residents with moderate incomes for 30 years instead of the 15 years required by the Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency regulating development in Kakaako.

“This was no easy project,” said Micah Kane, a Kamehameha Schools trustee, at the ceremony in the building’s pedestrian plaza. “It was a complex financial deal. It was a complex logistical project. It was very difficult, and there was a lot of anxiety in the boardroom about our ability as a team of partners to really execute.”

Keauhou Lane comprises two six-story buildings lining a promenade that is expected to connect to a future city rail station. About 10 ground-floor retail and restaurant tenants anchored by a Down to Earth natural foods store will line the promenade, which also connects with the lobby and parking garage of the neighboring Keauhou Place condominium tower, also nearing completion.

Kane likened the challenge of developing Keauhou Lane to pounding poi well, which takes a synchronicity not easily perfected. Novices, he explained, can really mess it up. “The poi doesn’t taste good,” he said. “You waste a lot of it. It doesn’t have the right texture. It’s not pleasant.”

In congratulating Gerding Edlen, Kane presented a stone poi pounder to company partner Brent Gaulke and used a Hawaiian proverb on making poi — “Hele no ka ala, hele no ka lima” (the rock goes, the hand goes) — to describe the synchronization that produced Keauhou Lane. “That’s what happened in this project. There was a synchronization between people who care about the project.”

Gaulke thanked many who had roles in producing the apartment complex. “This project is going to deliver workforce housing to a market that much needs it … and it’s going to do it where it’s most needed, which is near jobs and transit,” he said.

Added Ige, “It really is an environment that will allow our residents to live, work and play in Kakaako. We know that we have such a demand for affordable rentals in our community.”

Keauhou Lane, which is still undergoing landscaping and unit interior work, is projected to welcome its first residents by the end of this month. Applications will be accepted starting Friday through keauhoulane.com.

Monthly rents, which don’t include parking, range from $1,288 to $2,108 for studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom units with 298 to 745 square feet of living space.

For an initial 15 years, apartments are reserved either for households earning up to 80 percent of Honolulu’s annual median income, which currently equates to $58,640 for an individual and $83,680 for a family of four, or for households earning up to the median income, which is $73,300 for an individual and $104,600 for a family of four.

For the second 15-year term, tenants may earn no more than 120 percent of the median income. If that limit were in force now, it would be to $87,960 for a single person and $125,520 for a family of four, while maximum monthly rents could be around $2,200 for studios, $2,350 for one-bedroom units and $2,800 for two-bedroom units.