Buyers camp out for condos
Dozens of people lined up in the parking lot of the Honolulu Design Center yesterday, where they will be some of the first to turn in an application today for one of the 124 units at the Pacifica Honolulu condominium reserved for moderate-income buyers at 10 a.m. They also were treated to plate lunches by the Pacifica sales staff. The unit selection process will begin Sept. 25.
Rod Becker reclines on a chair reading the newspaper in the parking lot of the Honolulu Design Center, where he has been camping out since Sunday morning. He will be the first in line to turn in an application for one of the 124 units at the Pacifica condominium reserved for moderate income buyers.
The Pacifica Honolulu condominium sales center is inside the Honolulu Design Center.
At least 75 people have bettered their chances to buy one of 124 units reserved for moderate-income residents in the Pacifica Honolulu condominium in Kakaako by camping out for days in the garage of the project’s sales office.
The first hopeful buyer arrived Sunday morning, and the line as of yesterday afternoon had grown to about 75 people.
The sales office begins accepting applications today at 10 a.m., and qualified applicants will get to later select a unit to buy in the order applications are received. The unit selection process will begin Sept. 25.
Project developer OliverMcMillan said state rules requiring the offering of units in the 489-unit tower to moderate-income residents at somewhat below-market prices allowed a lottery, but the developer elected to take buyers on a first-come, first-served basis. So some eager prospective buyers set up camp in the parking garage of Honolulu Design Center, which hosts the project sales office.
"The developer is working hard to take care of the ‘campers’ with food and drinks, television for DVDs, restrooms, etc.," said Joyce Timpson, a spokeswoman for the project.
Prices range from $350,000 to $466,050 for two-bedroom, two-bathroom units with living spaces ranging from 728 to 1,033 square feet mostly along the bottom seven floors of the 46-story tower under construction at 1009 Kapiolani Blvd. near McKinley High School.
Under state rules, buyers must be Hawaii residents, intend to live in the units and earn no more than 140 percent of the median annual income for Honolulu, which translates to $102,125 for a single person or $114,380 for a family of two or more under state rules.
The tower is expected to be completed in the fall of 2011.
