Whole Foods tower gets OK in Kakaako

Hawaii’s fourth — and biggest — Whole Foods store is slated to break ground later this year on the bottom two floors of a 38-story condominium tower in Kakaako after a state agency approved the estimated $390 million project Wednesday.

The board of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the agency regulating development in Kakaako, approved a development permit from Howard Hughes Corp. by a 5-1 vote that provided the company with just enough votes to proceed.

HCDA’s board has nine members, though three were absent for the meeting. Five votes were needed to grant the permit.

"We’re just real happy to be moving forward," said David Striph, senior vice president in Hawaii with Texas-based Hughes Corp.

Hughes Corp. anticipates starting construction in the second half of this year. Prices for the 466 condo units have not been set. Finishing the tower and opening the Whole Foods store is expected in 2018.

Public testimony was overwhelmingly favorable for the as-yet-unnamed tower on the site of an Office Depot store and former home of Nordstrom Rack at the makai-Ewa corner of Queen and Kamakee streets behind the movie theaters at Ward Centers. Of 32 written comments submitted to HCDA, 27 were in support and five opposed.

Eleven people testified in person Wednesday, and all endorsed the project by Hughes Corp., which owns Ward Centers. Most of the testifiers were either affiliated with the construction industry or are Ward Centers tenants.

Dwayne Arelliano, business representative for the Glaziers, Architectural Metal and Glass Workers union Local 1889, said the project will employ many members of the union while Whole Foods hires 200 people from the community.

"That’s going to stimulate the economy," he told the board.

Claire Sullivan, spokeswoman for Whole Foods in Hawaii, said the natural foods retailer has long wanted a store in Kakaako, and that the roughly 55,000-square-foot store will be a flagship that is larger than existing stores in Kahala, Kailua and Maui.

"We’re looking forward to becoming a primary gathering spot for the community," she said.

The only negative comments came from HCDA director Brian Tamamoto, who said he was torn between what he said was an attractive tower with a desirable grocer and the size of the tower’s base that Hughes Corp. sought to make bigger than what HCDA rules specify.

"I’m very conflicted," said Tamamoto, who cast the only vote against the plan. "I’d like to see the project supported, but without the (rule) modifications."

Hughes Corp. proposed a roughly 75-foot tower base for the grocery store and six levels of parking with 1,301 stalls to serve tower residents and retail customers going to Whole Foods and nearby stores and restaurants. This part of the project exceeds a 45-foot limit that applies to the property.

Under HCDA rules, deviations on certain design rules are permitted if they result in a practically and aesthetically superior project that doesn’t adversely affect neighboring property and remains consistent with the agency’s general plan for Kakaako.

At a November public hearing, Nick Vanderboom, Hughes Corp.’s senior vice president of development, said the project wasn’t viable without the higher base because Whole Foods needed high ceilings that made the retail portion of the building about 32 feet and left insufficient room for enough parking.

Tamamoto said he couldn’t accept that the extra height was justifiable, especially given that Hughes Corp. has asked for and received increased tower base heights for five other towers.

Other board members accepted Hughes Corp.’s position that the extra height allows retail space to be added where a parking garage would otherwise be, and that the public benefit is a more pedestrian-friendly streetfront.

"It’s important to me not to have parking structures lining every block, and that’s what we would have if we stuck to the existing rules," said board member Brian Lee.

Hughes Corp. has a master plan to develop up to 22 towers and 1 million square feet of retail that would replace the 60-acre Ward Centers where no one currently lives with a community dubbed Ward Village.

The developer to date has received HCDA permits for six towers, including two that would replace most of Ward Warehouse and one at 988 Halekauwila St. Two towers named Waiea and Anaha makai and Diamond Head of the theaters are under construction.

The vote to approve Hughes Corp.’s sixth tower was previously scheduled for January. But more time was needed for the State Historic Preservation Office to review and accept the developer’s historic preservation plan, archaeological inventory survey and archaeological monitoring plan.

Hughes Corp. has already submitted an application for a seventh tower Ewa of the Whole Foods tower, though the application has not been deemed complete by HCDA.