A former top executive with a multibillion-dollar global real estate investment firm will be leading further development of the largest master-planned community in urban Honolulu.

The developer of Ward Village in Kakaako, Texas-based Howard Hughes Corp., has named Simon Treacy to be its president for Hawaii operations.

Treacy left New York-based real estate investment firm BlackRock where he was the $6 billion company’s global chief investment officer and a managing director. Prior to that, he was CEO of international real estate investment advisory firm MGPA, which BlackRock acquired in 2013.

Treacy’s departure from BlackRock was announced in November and was effective Dec. 29. His new job starts Monday.

Treacy replaces David Striph, who was transferred to Texas in July.

Treacy, 49, who is married with three children, said he decided last year to move to Hawaii with the goal of providing a less harsh environment for his family, especially his children, ages 11 to 12.

“It’s kind of central for my family life,” he said. “New York is a tough place for my family.”

Treacy, who is originally from Australia and has lived around the world including in Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok and Shanghai, said he intends to apply a global view of best practices for continuing the development of the Kakaako project approved for up to 4,300 homes mainly in high-rise buildings and 1 million square feet of retail on 60 acres.

To date, two condominium towers have been completed, and two are under construction. Hughes Corp. also has permits to build three other towers, including two ultraluxury towers on the former site of the Ward Warehouse retail complex and one called A‘ali‘i where sales are expected to begin soon with units topping out at around $1 million.

Finishing and opening the nearly sold-out first tower, Waiea, where the average condo price is $3.6 million, was rough. The developer sued the tower’s general contractor, Nordic PCL Construction, in November alleging that Waiea had “voluminous” deficiencies and defects several months after it opened at the end of 2016, and that work still was not finished. Nordic claimed in a lawsuit against Hughes Corp. last month that the developer was to blame for delays and had not paid the construction firm for $40 million of work despite selling nearly all the units in the tower to homeowners who began moving in over a year ago.

Hughes Corp. said the litigation with Nordic, which is building a tower at Ward Village, would not affect other aspects of the master-planned community.

Treacy said the opportunity to join Hughes Corp. that presented itself after he decided to move to Oahu was intriguing, especially because it’s been only a year since the first residents began living at Ward Village, with many more to follow. About 500 residences are complete and another 1,400 are under construction.

“That’s really exciting,” he said.