Construction is scheduled to start today on a $46 million assisted-living rental apartment complex in Pearl City, a year after the city temporarily blocked the project because of sewage capacity problems in the area.

Local development firm MW Group Ltd. scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony at 11:30 a.m. for The Plaza at Pearl City, a five-story complex for 159 residents.

The project at 1048 Kuala St., near Walmart, is projected to open in the fall of 2014.
A second phase — which would care for 60 additional residents who have memory disorders such as dementia — is planned later.

About 400 construction jobs are expected to be created by the project, followed by about 100 long-term jobs to operate the facility.

The Plaza at Pearl City is the fourth assisted-living project for MW Group, which has developed similar facilities in Makiki, Mili­lani and Moanalua that care for seniors who live independently or need assistance.

The Pearl City project became caught up in a moratorium on sewer permits imposed by the city last April before a solution was announced in July.

The moratorium was imposed because the Pearl City pump station had reached its limit of 28.4 million gallons of wastewater per day. Sending more sewage to the plant posed an increased danger for spills.

The solution involved cutting off sewage originating in Mililani and Waipahu from going to the Pearl City pump station during certain peak periods, and channeling all those flows to the Waipahu pump station by installing new valves.

That work was expected to be finished by the end of this year or early next year, allowing The Plaza at Pearl City to connect to the system.