Hawaii Kai Satellite City Hall to move

The Hawaii Kai Satellite City Hall and police substation at Hawaii Kai Towne Center will relocate to a different site in East Honolulu after the property owner more than doubled the rent.

The matter will be discussed today at a 7 p.m. Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board meeting at Hahaione Elementary School’s cafeteria. A mayor’s representative is expected to attend. The board also extended an invitation to the property manager, Colliers International.

After the city’s long-term lease ends Wednesday, the city will begin leasing the property on a month-to-month basis. The monthly payment will be $3,200 until a new location is established for the satellite city hall and police substation.

In an emailed statement, city spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said the property owner more than doubled the rent to $7,131 a month for the renewal of a long-term lease.

The city and property owner, ValueRock Realty Partners, based in California, recently agreed to a month-to-month lease extension at no rent increase.

“Although the Department of Customer Services would prefer to stay at the current location as it is heavily used and moving is an expense, more than doubling the rent is unacceptable,” Broder Van Dyke said in the statement. “The Department of Design and Construction is currently in negotiations for a new site in East Honolulu and is committed to keeping the satellite within East Honolulu.”

He added the search for a new site is not considered an urgent matter because the lease continues under the month-to-month agreement until further notice.

The Department of Design and Construction had visited several potential sites. Broder Van Dyke declined to disclose the locations because negotiations are underway.

Since January 2003 the satellite city hall has provided services for residents in Hawaii Kai and Waimanalo.

In fiscal year 2016 the site handled 58,329 transactions. Fifty-five percent of the transactions were for motor vehicle registrations, 28 percent for driver’s licenses and 5 percent for real property tax.

The remaining transactions included paying water bills, registering to vote and picking up dog licenses, disability placards, bus passes and fireworks permits.

Councilman Trevor Ozawa, who represents the area, held a news conference Monday fronting the Hawaii Kai Satellite City Hall expressing his interest in keeping it at its current location.

“We’re urging against the closure of the police station as well as the satellite city hall here,” he said.

With a substantial amount spent on construction of the new Kapalama Hale in Iwilei, Ozawa asked, “Why can’t we pay a little more to keep this one right here, where it’s been for over a decade?”

Costs to construct Kapalama Hale at the former Sprint Building on Dillingham Boulevard and Alakawa Street was estimated at $5.5 million. The newest satellite city hall at Kapalama Hale opened in June after the city closed the one at City Square.

Ozawa said he’s heard that Kahala Mall is a potential site. “I think that would be a bad idea. There’s no parking.”

A police office at Kahala would also be too far for officers to respond to an emergency in Hawaii Kai.

Waimanalo resident Jeff Fujita, who visited the satellite city hall Monday to renew his vehicle registration, said the Hawaii Kai site is the most convenient for him, especially after the Kailua Satellite City Hall in the Keolu Shopping Center closed in 2013.

“Town is so densely populated,” he added. “This one doesn’t get as much traffic.”

Natalie Iwasa, chairwoman of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board, encouraged concerned residents to attend today’s meeting. Iwasa said she learned of the lease issues from the mayor’s representative about a week ago.

She added the issue of the pending relocation to the agenda to inform residents.

“There hasn’t been any public notice about it,” she said.