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Living in Honolulu, where housing costs are often higher than in any other U.S. city, is hard. Living here is even harder for “starving artists.”
But two nonprofits aim to make it easier for artists to live in and contribute their art to an area increasingly dominated by luxury condominiums.
A Minnesota-based developer of housing for artists has partnered with a Hawaiian cultural group to build low-income rental apartment lofts on state land in Kakaako where artists can live and create and showcase their art.
The two organizations, Artspace and the PA‘I Foundation, propose developing a nine-story building with 80 live/work lofts plus commercial and community space at 1025 Waimanu St. makai of Public Storage and the Pacifica Honolulu condo tower.
Rental units would be reserved for artists earning 50 percent to 60 percent of Honolulu’s median income, or close to $40,000 for a single person and up to $61,800 for a family of four. Rents would range from about $965 to $1,390 a month for one- and two-bedroom units with large loft spaces for working.
The complex is also designed to include 4,000 square feet for PA‘I to teach and perform traditional Native Hawaiian arts such as hula and music, as well as a gardening area and a community room available to nonprofit and community groups.
The project, called Ola ka ‘Ilima Artspace Lofts, is intended to add diversity to an area of Honolulu undergoing a transformation from a largely industrial neighborhood to one with more retail and high-rise condominiums mostly priced for affluent buyers.
“Kakaako is going to go through a tremendous amount of change in the coming years,” Cathryn Vandenbrink, a vice president for Artspace, said in an email. “It would be wonderful for artists to have a permanent seat at the center of the community.”
Added Vicky Holt Takamine, a kumu hula and executive director of PA‘I, “I expect that our presence in Kakaako will enrich the community and contribute to a vibrant, exciting artistic and culturally grounded sense of place.”
However, it has been challenging to secure $40 million in financing for such an unusual project.
Artspace had been discussing a lease for the site, a 30,000-square-foot lot, with the Hawaii Community Development Authority for nearly two years as it put together the plan. But efforts to secure financing mainly from the state have drawn out the lease consideration process.
Recently the developer sought to extend exclusive lease negotiations with the agency, which owns the lot, and obtained a six-month extension that may be extended further.
Artspace intends to request $15 million in federal low-income housing tax-credit financing and $4.5 million from the state’s Rental Housing Trust Fund through the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp.
Another $3.5 million will be sought from city affordable housing funds. About $6 million would be in the form of a mortage loan. And $4 million is sought from private grants. The remaining $7 million would be from a variety of other sources.
A prior effort to obtain the bulk of the financing from Hawaii Housing Finance, a state agency that helps produce affordable housing, was unsuccessful. PA‘I also unsuccessfully sought a $3.5 million grant from the Legislature last year.
To date, Artspace and PA‘I have received $450,000 in grants that have helped planning work. This year Artspace will reapply for financing from Hawaii Housing Finance. And two bills at the Legislature seek appropriations for the project.
“We will work to assemble financing for the project while engaging with the creative community to refine the building program,” Vandenbrink said. “Artspace is very excited to be working in Honolulu to create permanently affordable space for artists and their families in Kakaako.”
Because Artspace relies heavily on federal and state low-income housing tax credits to fund development, its projects usually take three to five years, the organization said.
Artspace has developed 32 projects in 14 states, including 23 projects with roughly 1,000 live/work units for artists.
The nonprofit was formed in 1979 in Minneapolis to help keep artists from losing their place in a historic warehouse district where real estate prices rose after artists helped enliven the formerly desolate area.
“Artists were losing their toehold in the very the neighborhood they had helped create,” Artspace said in a brochure.
Most Artspace projects transformed old buildings — including hotels, schools, warehouses, a hospital and a department store — into rental lofts.
The first project involving all-new construction was a 44-unit complex in Maryland called Mount Rainier Artist Lofts, built in 2005 for $11.7 million.
The Hawaii project is one of several in the works nationwide for Artspace, and would be one of the biggest in terms of cost and the number of rental units.
Artspace said federal fair housing law supports housing for artists as a special group covered under the law.
The organization uses a committee of artists to help select tenants who are engaged in the creative arts, which can include painting, sculpture, literature, photography, architecture, singing, dancing, filmmaking and acting, to name just some disciplines. Other workers such as technicians, administrators and teachers who help produce or support art also qualify.
The quality of art by a prospective tenant is not judged, and the ethnicity, marital status and other personal distinctions protected by discrimination laws also are not considered.
If the development team is successful securing tax credits and other financing this year, construction could possibly start in mid-2014 and be finished in late 2015.
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