In about 18 months, a new dynamic should be present in Oahu’s “Second City” with people living in the Kapolei urban core that was master planned for businesses.

This coming change was heralded Thursday at a ceremony to recognize construction starting on the first of two 13-story rental apartment towers with a combined 297 homes reserved for residents with low incomes.

The first Kulana Hale tower in Kapolei is reserved for seniors age 55 and older, and is projected to be completed in early 2020. The second tower, anticipated to break ground in April, is geared toward families.

Michael Costa, a principal involved in a partnership between California-based companies developing Kulana, said it’s rare for affordable housing to be developed in the urban core of cities.

“You never get these opportunities when you’re developing affordable housing,” he said during the ceremony at the project site.

Costa, president and CEO of Highridge Costa Cos., said affordable housing often gets pushed to the outskirts of urban centers because other stakeholders don’t recognize what benefits such projects bring. He said those benefits are residents who are more likely to be working in surrounding stores and restaurants.

Mohannad Mohanna, president of a Highridge subsidiary heading the project, added that rents at Kulana will be 20 percent to 70 percent below market rates, which leaves tenants with more disposable income to spend on other goods and services offered in the area.

“You want an economic catalyst in your neighborhood to drive business?” he said. “It’s affordable housing, because those are the people who are paying a reasonable amount of their rents relative to their income.”

State Rep. Sharon Har, who represents Kapolei and Makakilo, said she has long disagreed with how planners at Campbell Estate, who drew up zoning for Ka‑ polei decades ago when the area was sugar cane fields, designated housing areas in suburbs and on the fringes of an urban core dedicated for commercial uses.

“These are the types of communities that we need to keep building,” she said about Kulana, which includes a third phase of single-story retail buildings along two sides of the 3-acre block.

Kahu S. Kala Holden, who blessed the property, called Kulana’s design attractive and said she would apply for an apartment if she didn’t already have a home in Makakilo where she has lived since 1979.

“This is very unique,” she said. “I am very excited for my community now.”

More than a decade ago, Goodwill Industries of Hawaii Inc. intended to build a career center on the block it bought from Kapolei’s master developer now known as James Campbell Co. However, Goodwill shifted its plan elsewhere in Kapolei and sold the downtown site three years ago to affordable-housing developer Franco Mola of Coastal Rim Properties Inc. for $4.7 million.

Mola later partnered with Highridge to help assemble what was a difficult project that initially was envisioned as four towers with 580 homes. Early on, there was some community criticism for building homes instead of businesses on land zoned for commercial use because more jobs in the area would reduce the need for residents to drive to Honolulu for work and help keep the “second city” from becoming more of an Oahu bedroom community.

Building the $130 million two-tower project was made possible with $80 million in financing provided through Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency that helps facilitate affordable-housing development. The agency provided Kulana’s developer with bonds and a loan that get paid back as well as state and federal tax credits that are sold to investors.

As affordable housing, Kulana was allowed to deviate from zoning under HHFDC authority. The financing assistance from the agency also requires that the homes stay affordable for 61 years.

Both towers will be reserved for tenants who earn no more than 60 percent of the median income in Honolulu, which equates to $49,020 for a single person, $55,980 for a couple or $69,960 for a family of four. A small number of apartments will be for tenants earning less than that.

Maximum monthly rent in the first tower based on present income levels would be $1,131 for about 100 one-bedroom units. Maximum rents for 22 studios would range from $528 to $968. The tower also will have about 20 units with two bedrooms that could rent for up to $1,357 a month.