Three residential high-rises could start coming out of the ground at Ward Centers in 2014 as part of a revised master plan transforming 60 acres of retail and industrial businesses into an almost entirely new neighborhood dominated by condominium towers and twice as many shops and restaurants.

Howard Hughes Corp. unveiled the development plan Wednesday, about two years after the Texas-based firm acquired Ward Centers from General Growth Properties.

“We really believe we have the ability to transform the neighborhood into something that hasn’t been seen before in Honolulu,” said David Striph, senior vice president overseeing Hawaii operations for Hughes Corp.

The Hughes Corp. plan is a revision to a 2008 General Growth plan that led to state approval for developing up to 9.3 million square feet of building area, including 4,300 residential units, in the area.

Revisions by Hughes Corp. pertain to how the company intends to distribute all the approved development to shape the community, and doesn’t change how much total density is allowed.

The new plan, dubbed Ward Village, would double the amount of retail, dining and entertainment venues on their property. It also calls for 22 skinnier towers that preserve more public views of the mountains and ocean compared with General Growth’s plan for 20 towers.

Another major plan revision is the intention by Hughes Corp. to orient the long side of nearly all its towers on a mauka-makai axis to further maximize public mountain and ocean views between buildings.

Eight towers still would front Ala Moana Boulevard, but they would be set back 60 to 70 feet from the street instead of 15 feet, according to Nick Vanderboom, Hughes Corp. vice president of development.

An initial phase that includes one moderate-priced and two market-priced residential towers is projected to break ground in early 2014 if specific design and permitting approvals are granted by the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

Renovating the IBM office building is also part of the first phase that Hughes Corp. estimates will produce a $1.25 billion economic impact and 9,000 jobs.

Completion of the first phase is expected in 2016.

The broader $7.5 billion redevelopment plan is projected to take 15 years to complete, and would replace everything at Ward Centers except for a new TJ Maxx building soon to be joined with new sites for Nordstrom Rack and Pier 1 Imports, an adjacent parking structure, nearby movie theaters and the IBM Building.

Additional retail space will provide opportunities for existing tenants to relocate, though there will be some tenant displacements.

General Growth, owner of the state’s largest shopping center, Ala Moana Center, which is about a quarter-mile from Ward Centers, had planned to replace everything on the Ward property including the theaters and the IBM Building, save the TJ Maxx site and adjacent parking structure.

A central piece of General Growth’s plan being retained by Hughes Corp. is a roughly 3-acre landscaped central plaza, though the new developer has redesigned the area with a grovelike setting of palm trees around a waterway as opposed to a more symmetrical European-style palm-lined plaza with a fountain.

Public reaction to the revised vision presented at Wednesday’s development authority meeting was generally positive. Dexter Okada, a Kakaako small-business owner, and Wayne Takamine, chairman of the Kakaako Makai Community Planning Advisory Council, said Hughes Corp. improved on the General Growth plan.

But some community members still expressed concern about traffic.

Hughes Corp. is required to produce a regional traffic impact study that is expected to lead to traffic improvements.

“We know that’s an issue,” Vanderboom said. “There is every intent to find ways to improve (traffic).”

The developer also is aware of the probability of finding Native Hawaiian burials in the area, and has submitted an archeological survey plan to the state Department of Land and Natural Resource’s State Historic Preservation Division.

Hughes Corp. has committed to start surveying its property for burials within the next month before drawing up specific designs for the initial phase of development.

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, chairwoman of the Oahu Island Burial Council, commended Hughes Corp. for the approach. Wong-Kalu also said she appreciates the developer’s aim to maintain more of Hawaii’s sense of place.

Besides the grovelike setting, the preservation of mauka-makai views was held up by Hughes Corp. as a way to create a modern urban neighborhood while reflecting some of the area’s historic past.
The developer said it plans to build towers with footprints of 10,000 square feet to 12,000 square feet instead of 16,000 square feet under General Growth’s plan.

Tower orientation is a contentious issue that arose earlier this year when another Kakaako tower developer, San Diego-based Oliver­McMillian, sought and received an OK from the development authority to deviate from rules for towers to maximize public mauka-makai views.

Because the rules took effect last year, the Ward Centers master plan approved in 2009 is exempt from the orientation provision.

General Growth had conceptually positioned about half of its 20 towers like the OliverMcMillian tower called Symphony Honolulu.

Hughes Corp. envisions that only a couple of its 22 towers will be positioned with their long side parallel to the mountains and sea as with Symphony.

“That is really important to us,” Vanderboom said of preserving view planes.

Vanderboom said Hughes Corp. tried to draw some inspiration for its plan from the history of the property, which once was part of a kama­­­aina family estate known as Old Plantation established by Victoria Robinson and Curtis Ward where Blaisdell Center is today.

Over the past century, coconut groves, fishponds and taro patches on the estate gave way to a mostly industrial mix of property that shifted to more of a retail mix over the past few decades.

General Growth bought Ward Centers from Victoria Ward Ltd., a company still linked to decedents of Robinson and Ward, for $250 million in 2002.

In 2008, General Growth announced its plan dubbed Ward Neighborhood dominated by residential towers as well as retail space for about 400 tenants (100 more than present) and 700,000 square feet of industrial space.

The state development authority approved a broad framework for the project in 2009.

General Growth anticipated starting construction on a first phase comprising the central plaza and improvements to Auahi Street in 2010, but debt trouble brought on by the global financial crisis hobbled the mall owner’s development plans and ability to hold on to Ward Centers.