Kakaako is THE hot spot — but devil will be in details

After Gov. George Ariyoshi left office, I made a matrix of his State of the State speeches, searching for his common themes.

It turns out that in Ariyoshi beats the heart of a planner and what he most wanted to plan was Kakaako, because he mentioned that more than anything else in 12 years of speeches.

Hawaii’s governor today is just as focused on the area.

At a recent downtown seminar on the new spurt of planning for Kakaako, Gov. Neil Abercrombie pitched the area like it was the Ginsu Knife of real estate development:

“We are going to have art blocks, we are going to have small businesses, we are going to have loft living, we are going to have every variety of modern life across the complete spectrum of our relationships with one another from the very young to those of us aging in place.

“All of us are going to look to Kakaako and its extension to Kalihi as the revitalization of a new urban core in Honolulu that not only will we be very proud of, but will thrill us and give us the opportunity to say to one another that is where I want to be. That is aloha and that is Honolulu and that’s the 21st century and that’s Kakaako,” Abercrombie said.

He got to take a breath during his litany because first lady Nancie Caraway interrupted to remind him to also plug rooftop gardens, dubbed green roofs.

“All this is going to be combined with green roofs;

I can assure you there will be green roofs,” the governor dutifully added.

Kakaako is primed for development now after 40 years of state control; the area is already getting the glamorous high-rise development and more is promised.

Stung by public and political backlash to its first plans for commercial development back in 2006, the Hawaii Community Development Authority spent three years reworking a model for the most sensitive the area: the 44 acres makai of Ala Moana Boulevard.

There is much to fear because Hawaii’s developers and planners are perfectly capable of taking our once-in-a-lifetime views and vistas and walling them off from the public, as was done with Kalakaua Avenue. Those planners turned Waikiki into a concrete canyon instead of a tree-lined beach.

The issue today is filled with many moving parts because Abercrombie’s proposal to give a portion of the makai parcel to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to settle $200 million in past due land claims is moving steadily through the Legislature.

Peter Apo, OHA trustee, told the group that OHA was putting together a development team and would create a commercial properties team to explore how to use the land.

The land transfer would allow HCDA to have the last say on how OHA could use the property. The Legislature has said there could be no residential development along the parcel. But already, this year’s Legislature is toying with the idea of allowing two pieces of land to be used for high-rise development to give OHA more development flexibility.

Ron Iwami, the soft-spoken retired Fire Department captain and surfer who organized the citizen groups that stopped the development in 2006, was also at last week’s  meeting and came away hopeful.

“What I heard was good. I like the part of about green roofs; that is the future. Also developments that are pedestrian-friendly.

“They mentioned village setting, shopping villages, theaters, markets, places where people can gather — that is the vision — it did not say residential at all,” Iwami said.

Apo stressed that Kakaako Makai would essentially be the first development of a new Hawaiian nation, and the trustees want to get it right and be respectful of the planning that has gone on.

Already OHA is exploring issues such as: Can you build on land that previously was a landfill? Can you handle the expected rise in sea levels? Can you make money without tarting up the place?

Even the HCDA community plan notes, “The current economic downturn, prohibition on residential activities in the area and a resistance to for-profit land uses, create a serious challenge.”

A lot more has to be done before Neil and Nancie are tending the parsley in their garden atop a Kakaako high-rise.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.