A major landowner in Kakaako has revealed a large part of its ambitious plan to erect 22 condominium towers on 60 acres that will lead the way in redefining what has been an industrial warehouse area into a bustling urban community. The vision holds much potential, but scrutiny should be aimed at designing the buildings to maximize the area’s vistas and assuring a place for middle-income residents.

Texas-based Howard Hughes Corp., which bought the property from General Growth Properties, plans to complete the first phase with three 400-foot towers and renovation of the IBM Building on Ala Moana Boulevard by 2016.

The plan is consistent with an earlier, general agreement with the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency governing Kakaako redevelopment.

By the end of 15 years, the $7.5 billion Hughes Corp. redevelopment plan will consist of 4,300 residential units.

Nearby, Kamehameha Schools may build 2,750 homes over seven towers and commercial development on its nine blocks between Restaurant Row and Ward Centers. The state and Office of Hawaiian Affairs expect to take part in the area’s renovation. It will include restaurants and shops in a central plaza.

Such activity is supported by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who proclaimed a year ago that "the key to ending urban sprawl, ending arguments about where we’re going to build, is to have urban density in the urban core that makes sense in community terms. And Kakaako is the ideal laboratory for the project."

That concept is indeed sound, as long as practical issues such as traffic and residential mixed affordability are adequately addressed.

An important plus is the requirement that the condos in the area will not be limited to the rich. The HCDA must adhere to federal guidelines requiring that a significant number of affordable units go to buyers with incomes of no more than $80,000 for a single person and $116,000 for a family of four.

Concerns are being expressed about the height of the buildings, although towers reaching 400 feet into the sky have become increasingly commonplace in urban Honolulu.

Anthony Ching, HCDA’s executive director, has said most of the Kakaako buildings’ "skinny side" will be positioned from makai to mauka, aimed at limiting scenic disruption. Laudably, that is largely reflected in Hughes Corp.’s illustrations.

Two stations are planned in the Kakaako area for the Ala Moana-Kapolei rail project, which will be useful for commuting in either direction. Business and industrial development will continue to grow in the Kapolei area, but that should not preclude growth of housing in urban Honolulu.

As with all recent developments, including the rail project, designers must deal sensitively with the presence of historic Native Hawaiian burials. Contractors excavating a foundation for a 43-story condominium at Kakaako recently unearthed 19 sets of human remains, or iwi, that appear to include royalty.

Realizing the likelihood of ancient graves in that entire district, developers will be wise to work proactively and collaboratively with the Oahu Island Burial Council to either preserve such iwi where they are discovered — as was the case when Alexander & Baldwin Inc. redesigned part of its Waihonua building footprint — or compromise on reburial.

Hughes Corp.’s impending Ward Village redevelopment, together with present Kakaako projects, are an ambitious undertaking that should result in a broad transformation that has been the main goal of HCDA since it was created by the state Legislature nearly 37 years ago.

Further public involvement will be needed to assure a fabulously welcome section of Honolulu.