Ward Village’s developer is seeking public input on the design of elevated walkways that would connect a central plaza in the neighborhood to a planned rail station, Ala Moana Beach Park and future condominium towers.

Howard Hughes Corp. announced Tuesday that it plans to host two or three community input sessions in December to help it revise its master plan for the expanding Ward Village neighborhood on 60 acres in Kakaako.

The developer shared its conceptual idea to create elevated walkways with pedestrian bridges over Auahi Street, Ala Moana Boulevard and Ward Avenue in May. Now it wants broad public input before detailed plans are created and submitted to a state agency regulating development in Kakaako.

Simon Treacy, president of Hawaii operations for Texas-based Hughes Corp., talked about this next step at a First Hawaiian Bank business event Tuesday at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort. He also said the central plaza, of which an initial 1.5-acre piece is slated to open in January to public use, will be named Victoria Ward Park after the kamaaina landowner whose grand estate once covered the area.

“It is really starting to take shape,” Treacy said of what is now a grassy space with a few rows of trees where a Marukai store used to be ewa of the movie theaters at Ward Village. Eventually, this area will become a 3-acre site with water features and other enhancements in the heart of the neighborhood slated for up to 4,300 homes in 16 residential towers and 1 million square feet of retail space. “This will become the new center of Ward Village, and it’s for everyone.”

How pedestrians get to and from the public plaza has been a big focus for Hughes Corp. since Treacy joined the company in January.

As part of the vision to introduce elevated walkways at Ward Village, plans were nixed for two approved ultraluxury high-rises dubbed Gateway Towers on part of the site where the Ward Warehouse retail complex stood until it was razed earlier this year. Part of the central plaza was to run between these two towers. This part of the plaza is now a grassy area but won’t be part of the park slated to open in January.

No dates for the community input sessions have been set yet.

Todd Apo, vice president of community development in Hawaii for Hughes Corp., said the company wants to hear from people who live in Kakaako as well as people from outside the district. Transportation officials with the city and state also will be involved. Major changes to the Ward Village master plan are subject to approval from the Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency that regulates development of Kakaako and is overseen by a board.

Apo said the company would like to produce detailed plans by the middle of next year.