2 towers proposed for site in Kapolei

Two towers, instead of four, would rise in downtown Kapolei under a scaled-back plan to develop affordable high-rise homes on a block zoned for business use.

Plans presented to the Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board nearly two years ago anticipated 580 residential units in four towers for the project dubbed Kulana Hale II on a vacant 3-acre site.

Now the project’s developer, Coastal Rim Properties Inc., is advancing revised plans that call for 297 homes in two towers, according to a draft environmental assessment published by the state on Monday.

Coastal Rim, headed by Franco Mola, intends Kulana Hale to be a mix of apartments for low-income seniors for rent as low as $503 a month, condominiums for moderate-income residents and market-priced condos. Some ground-floor retail also is part of the $111 million project.

Some area residents, however, have ongoing concerns about the proposed towers, including putting homes on land zoned for businesses in an area where housing continues to grow faster than jobs.

Kulana Hale is designed to qualify as a state-sponsored affordable-housing project that can be granted exemptions from zoning, height limits, parking requirements and other county development rules.

Such exemption provisions are provided by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency that facilitates affordable-housing development. Approving exemptions is up to the City Council.

Mola could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Coastal Rim acknowledged in its environmental report that more permanent jobs would be created by an office tower complex on the site — about 1,155 compared with 166 for Kulana Hale based on one job per 200 square feet of commercial space. But the developer said the urban design plan for the master-planned city of Kapolei encourages residential mixed-use in the city center.

“Therefore, the proposed development does not displace an intended use but rather conforms to it,” the report said.

Coastal Rim also said that sites for commercial development are not a scarce resource in the core of Oahu’s “Second City,” where six blocks can accommodate 24 commercial towers.

Kioni Dudley, chairman of the neighborhood board’s planning and zoning committee, previously raised concerns about Kapolei’s business district lacking enough jobs, which leads to more residents using an already overcrowded freeway to commute to work in Honolulu.

“There’s no real business center,” he said in a Star-Advertiser story in 2013 about Kulana Hale. “Kapolei is supposed to be a city, but they’ve never built it.”

Dudley, who could not be reached Wednesday, also said during a 2013 neighborhood board meeting that the Coastal Rim project seemed to be a good second start to building up the empty downtown business district, according to meeting minutes.

The zoning for the Kulana Hale site is B-2, or community business, which prohibits residential use.

The neighborhood board did not take a position on the project at the 2013 meeting, though another concern expressed at the time was that insufficient parking for Kulana Hale would congest area streets.

Kulana Hale is proposed with 415 parking stalls, or 83 fewer than what city regulations require. The developer said in the environmental report that its requested exemptions including parking are needed to maintain the project’s financial feasibility by minimizing cost and maximizing the number of residences.

Mola also told the neighborhood board in 2013 that people living in the towers won’t have to rely on cars because they can walk to church, doctor’s offices and other places, according to meeting minutes.

Other exemptions sought include an upper-floor tower setback zone, a park space contribution and building permit fees. A “minimal” exemption also is being sought related to building height. The limit on the site is 150 feet, which is the proposed height of the towers. However, the limit for the highest occupied floor is 125 feet, which is 5 feet below a proposed 130 feet.

Coastal Rim anticipates building Kulana Hale in three phases from January 2016 to July 2018.

An initial phase would be a 13-story senior rental tower with 154 units.

These units, with 360 square feet to 765 square feet of living space, would be restricted to seniors age 55 and up earning no more than 30 percent to 60 percent of Honolulu’s annual median income. That equates to $20,130 for a single person and $23,010 for a couple at the low end, to $40,260 for a single person and $46,020 for a couple at the high end.

Monthly rents in phase one are projected to range from $503 to $1,294.

The second phase is designed to be a 13-story condo with 143 units, of which 72 would be restricted for households earning no more than 140 percent of the median income. That equates to $93,940 for a single person and $134,120 for a family of four.

Condo units with 360 square feet to 990 square feet of living space could be priced up to $454,233 for a studio to $648,517 for a three-bedroom unit under state affordability guidelines, though the developer indicated that prices might be considerably lower. The other 71 units would be market priced.

A third phase would be a single-story retail building.

Coastal Rim anticipates seeking some financing from Hawaii Housing Finance and Development. According to property records, the developer has yet to buy the property, which was purchased by Goodwill Industries of Hawaii Inc. in 2006. Goodwill intended to build a career center on the site, but instead developed a site at Kapolei Business Park and agreed to sell the unused land to Coastal Rim.