Bringing back the flow

It’s been buried for more than 80 years and is marked on a map as a water drainage easement. Soon, though, parts of a half-mile-long channel through which small fish once swam from the ocean into an inland fishpond could resurface in Kakaako.

The owner of Ward Centers, Howard Hughes Corp., wants to take what today is an underground stream of crystal-clear water fed by artesian springs and return it to the surface as part of a landscaped public promenade the company is designing in its emerging Ward Village retail and high-rise condominium community.

The hidden waterway, which at times can be populated with fish and seaweed depending on the tide, is intended to re-establish a connection to what used to be part of the historic Curtis and Victoria Ward estate known as Old Plantation, said Race Randle, senior director of development in Hawaii for Texas-based Hughes Corp.

"It would bring a bit of old Hawaii back to the urban area," he said.

Some issues, including water quality and engineering challenges, have yet to be assessed and could hinder realizing the vision. However, Randle is hopeful the water will resurface and restore a visible connection to history.

"It was the central unifying element for the Ward family," he said.

The former fishpond and stream possibly existed before Oahu was populated, and at some point area inhabitants installed a sluice gate that allowed small young fish to enter the pond where they could grow and be harvested, according to Frank Ward Hustace III.

Curtis and Victoria Ward, great-great-grandparents of Hustace, bought the property with the pond and channel, or auwai, around 1870 as part of a series of purchases that created an estate stretching from Thomas Square mauka of King Street to the shoreline, according to the book "Victoria Ward and Her Family: Memories of Old Plantation," by Hustace.

The fishpond was filled with amaama, aholehole and mullet, the book said. "A scoop net was often all that was needed if a fresh fish was desired at a moment’s notice," Hustace wrote in the book.

Long Pond, as it was named on one map, was the centerpiece of the Ward estate, where a stately Southern-style mansion was built makai of King Street in 1881 at the same time as Iolani Palace.

The spring fed the pond and was a source of drinking water that quenched the thirst of family, friends and passers-by. "Queen Emma loved the cool water from the Wards’ artesian well and would stop to drink out of kalo leaves folded into cups and filled with the water," the book recounted.

Hustace in the book quoted one of Victoria Ward’s seven daughters, Mary Elizabeth "Mellie" Ward, describing the water this way: "We called it wai aniani (water of glass) because it seemed as clear as a sheet of glass."

Curtis Ward died in 1882, a year after the home was completed. Victoria Ward then ran the estate, where commercial operations included fruit orchards, livestock, salt production and several thousand coconut trees. She died in 1935.

In 1958 the city used condemnation to buy much of the Ward property, including the home and pond, so it could build the Honolulu International Center civic auditorium and concert hall now known as Neal S. Blaisdell Center.

The fishponds today around the Blaisdell are fed by the same springs, which maintain a hidden connection to the ocean.

Hustace said that for decades before the city’s acquisition of the property, the auwai would overflow during times of heavy rain and create problems for other landowners. So a concrete culvert about 5 feet wide was created to contain the stream. Nowadays the culvert empties into Kewalo Basin through an opening that at high tides still allows fish to swim upstream.

On a recent day, water about 4 inches deep and indeed as clear as glass was flowing toward the sea through the culvert. Randle said city officials have indicated that about 1 million gallons a day flows from the Blaisdell.

Hustace, 62, said unearthing what was such a valuable natural resource of historic significance could re-establish a great connection with the past. "My belief is the spirit of that place is still there," he said.

"It’s a cool idea," added Mitch D’Olier, former CEO of Victoria Ward Ltd., the company that developed Ward Centers and later sold the property to mall owner General Growth Properties.

Randle said Hughes Corp., which acquired Ward Centers from General Growth in 2010, learned about the channel in mid-2014 looking at old land survey maps. He said the culvert was marked as a drainage easement. "We had no idea what that meant," he said.

About a dozen manholes access the culvert on Hughes Corp. land. Randle said records indicate the culvert was built in 1931. By coincidence the channel runs beneath some of the area on which the company plans to create a public promenade with a body of water between two condo towers slated to replace part of Ward Warehouse, Randle said.

A second phase of the promenade mauka of Ward Warehouse isn’t in line with the channel, but Hughes Corp. is looking at the possibility of rerouting the water so that it can flow along more of the promenade, Randle said.

The initial piece of the promenade is part of a development phase called Ward Village Gateway that includes a 28-story condo and a 35-story condo to replace most of Ward Warehouse. Hughes Corp. obtained state approval for the project in November. Construction is slated to begin this year.