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Strong demand for new residential high-rise condominiums continues in Honolulu, with a fifth project announcing good buyer response amid a wave of projects that has risen over the last year.
OliverMcMillan, developer of the planned 45-story Symphony Honolulu tower in Kakaako, announced that close to 70 percent, or about 200, of 288 units released for sale June 15 were sold in an initial weekend of sales.
The San Diego-based firm, which is partnering with local auto dealer JN Automotive to build the tower on the mauka-Ewa corner of Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard, said it is pleased by what it termed a "great" response.
"The response to our project indicates there is a strong demand for homes in the core of Honolulu," Dan Nishikawa, president of OliverMcMillan’s local office, said in a statement.
Symphony Honolulu units, which range from 672 to about 2,000 square feet, are priced from more than $500,000 to about $3 million.
The tower will have 388 units, but 100 of those will be made available this fall under a mandated state affordable-housing program for moderate-income residents via a lottery.
Construction is supposed to start by the end of the year and finish near the end of 2015.
The OliverMcMillan project is the fifth condo tower in Honolulu to launch sales in recent months. And more are expected in Kakaako, planned by developers who are convinced that pent-up demand, a rising real estate market and the growing economy will support such construction.
A project named Waihonua at Kewalo, which launched sales about 18 months ago and is under construction on Queen Street, was the first in the recent pack to get going and has sold about 320 of 341 units for $375,000 to $1.9 million.
Also under construction is One Ala Moana, a 210-unit luxury tower atop the Nordstrom store parking garage at Ala Moana Center, which sold out of units priced from $583,000 to $9 million.
Another sellout was a 635-unit tower named 801 South Street, which recently began construction. Unit prices for this project range from $253,200 to $501,300.
Last week the developer of a condominium-hotel project in Waikiki announced that it had sold 263 of 309 units, or 85 percent of the building, with units priced from $650,000 to $15 million. This project, named the Ritz-Carlton Residences Waikiki Beach, allows buyers to live full time or part time in their units or rent them out to short-term or long-term guests.
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COURTESY OLIVERMCMILLAN