The state agency soliciting bids to build a 650-foot tower that includes workforce housing on state land in Kakaako released the names of bidders Tuesday, reversing an earlier position to keep their identities secret until a preferred plan was chosen.

Affiliates of Forest City Enterprises Inc. and Lend Lease, two giant real estate development companies with projects in Hawaii, submitted bids for the estimated $500 million project dubbed 690 Pohukaina, the Hawaii Community Development Authority announced at its regular monthly meeting.

Forest City is an Ohio-based company with experience in private-public development projects and residential towers. The firm said its assets total $10.5 billion. Among its projects are two of the 10 tallest buildings in New York City, including the 870-foot New York by Gehry apartment tower recognized as the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

In Hawaii, Forest City is involved with military housing construction for the Navy and?Marine Corps on Oahu and a master-planned affordable-housing community on Hawaii island called Kamakana Villages.

Lend Lease is an Australian-based company that also has experience in public-private development projects and high-rise construction. The firm says it has delivered more than 450 residential projects worth $16 billion in America. One of its more notable is the 1,170-foot Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, the second-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

In Hawaii, Lend Lease is building military housing at Hickam Air Force Base and Aliamanu Military Reservation.

If constructed, 690 Pohukaina would become the tallest building in Hawaii. The plan was announced in October by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who characterized it as “sustainable urban density” that would allow Oahu to get off a path of urban sprawl.

The project’s envisioned components include 300 residential units for sale or rent at prices affordable to Honolulu’s workforce earning close to the median income, 500 market-priced units for sale and 65,000 square feet of space for state and civic uses.

HCDA?said the additional height will make it easier for a developer to deliver more affordable housing because of the economy of scale, and that the project will serve as a catalyst for future growth, diversification and stimulation of Hawaii’s economy.

Details of the two bids aren’t being disclosed yet because it could undermine the competitive-bid process by providing information the developers could use to alter their bids for best-and-final offers due later this year, the HCDA said.

“It would really frustrate the ability to get the best possible deal for the public,” said Tony Ching, HCDA executive director.

Ching said the developers will present their final plans at a public meeting, at which time community members will be able to comment.

A second public hearing will be held for a committee of agency board members to provide a recommendation for a preferred plan, at which time community members will again be able to give input. The agency board will be asked to vote to pursue the preferred plan at this second meeting.

Earlier this year the agency estimated that final offers would be due in November followed by public meetings in December and January. But Ching cautioned that the timetable is likely to change and possibly advance.

Besides the two public hearings, the public will be able to comment on the plans by phone and online.

Ching also said the public will have opportunities to comment on the agency’s intent to raise the height limit to 650 feet from 400 feet in parts of Kakaako through the environmental impact statement process and at public hearings to consider amending agency rules for such a change.

“The public process is going to be intensive,”?he said.

HCDA issued a request for proposals in January for 690 Pohukaina. Developers had until Aug. 31 to submit bids.

After the bid deadline, the agency declined to state how many bids were received or who bid. But after analyzing bid documents and state procurement law, which doesn’t apply to 690 Pohukaina because HCDA?is seeking a development partner, the agency determined it would share bidder names with board directors and the public.

At Tuesday’s meeting, agency board Chairman Brian Lee appointed a three-member committee of directors to rate the proposals.

The committee members are Luis Salaveria, deputy director of the state Department of Budget and Finance; Richard Lim, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; and Miles Kamimura, president of Pacific Property Group. Kamimura will be the committee chairman.

After a selection is voted on by the full board, it would be up to agency staff to negotiate a detailed development agreement with the selected developer.

Negotiations could take eight months, HCDA estimates. After an agreement is approved, it could take a little more than two years for the developer to design and permit the project, which again would involve public hearings to consider further details. If all is approved, construction might begin as early as mid-2016, with completion three years after that.