Kakaako has been the area most plotted with plans for skyscraper living quarters but now is envisioned also for a year-round fairground that, as a "gateway," should draw residents into the area on their off hours. Hawaii extreme sports athlete Billy Balding’s plan is not quite D.G. "Andy" Anderson’s carousel and giant Ferris wheel, which the Hawaii Community Development Authority rejected more than 13 years ago, but it promises to add right-sized, family-friendly entertainment to the waterfront.

Balding, known locally as a canoe paddler, surfer and triathlete, plans to lease from Kamehameha Schools half of the 6-acre grassy parcel near Kakaako Makai Gateway Park to plant the entertainment park. It is to feature a stationary surfing wave, skateboard park and go-kart track, plus a miniature golf course, rock-climbing wall, kiddie carnival rides, plus food offerings … and a small Ferris wheel.

"You only live once," Balding, 48, told the Star-Advertiser’s Andrew Gomes, adding that he had been thinking about such a complex for 20 years. "You either go big or go home. I’m going big."

Not as big, though, as developer and former politico Anderson once figured for his proposal. He had planned a complex of retail shops, restaurants and attractions including the carousel and a 132-feet-high Ferris wheel on 18 acres of state-owned Kakaako land. Anderson figured his "Kewalo Pointe" would cost $138 million, create nearly 2,600 jobs and generate $16.6 million a year in tax revenues.

However, a HCDA subcommittee judged those monetary estimates to be overly optimistic, and issues such as parking to be inadequately addressed. A wedding-venue restaurant was opened last year on the same property at Kewalo Basin where Anderson’s John Dominis restaurant once stood and where his big development was envisioned.

More than a decade later, as it’s turning out, a gradual transformation of Kakaako has begun — from a blighted industrial district into a live-work-play one. Kamehameha Schools just finished converting a four-story building on Ala Moana Boulevard into 54 rental apartments targeted for median-income workers, the first project in the schools’ 15-year Kakaako master plan for a pedestrian-centric neighborhood with local manufacturing and retail, and open gathering spaces.

Nearby, construction on Hale­kau­wila Place has finally started, a 19-story tower with 204 affordable rental apartments geared to individuals earning up to $43,000 yearly or a family of four earning $62,000 maximum. Further mauka on South Street but still within the Kakaako district, a $200 million, 46-story condo project for 635 affordable units has just been approved, which should also help populate the area.

Balding’s "fun zone" plans are modest compared with Anderson’s proposal, has plenty of parking next to Kakaako Waterfront Park and would be next to the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center, a learning center that attracts 80,000 parents and children a year.

Balding is near finalizing the project and will need the HCDA’s approval. A presentation to the authority is scheduled for Feb. 6 and a decision is to be made a month later. He wants to open the park activity in early summer.

Christian O’Connor, a senior asset manager for Kamehameha Schools, predicts that Balding’s park will be "lively and entertaining. It should draw many people who now live in Kakaako and the many future residents of future buildings a walking distance away." An attraction like that for Kakaako would be worth supporting.