Construction of 183 rental and condominium homes in two midrise buildings in Kakaako is projected to start this fall, after a state agency approved the roughly $60 million project on Keawe Street on Tuesday.
Board members of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency regulating development in Kakaako, voted 5-0 to OK the project comprising a 95-unit condo called 400 Keawe and an 88-unit rental complex called 440 Keawe on 2.8 acres bordered by One Waterfront Towers and Keawe, Auahi and Pohukaina streets.
The plan drew relatively little public comment at public hearings in April and on Tuesday, though a group of residents at Waterfront Towers did take a formal step to challenge the project before reversing the move prior to the initial hearing.
The pair of six- and seven-story buildings are part of a master plan for 29 acres in Kakaako owned by Kamehameha Schools that envisions seven towers on nine contiguous blocks.
At the 400/440 Keawe site, Kamehameha Schools is developing the apartment building and Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii Inc. is developing the condo. A public pedestrian plaza and an existing 24,000-square-foot office building to be converted for retail and restaurant use are also part of the plan.
Project representatives have said that a 400-foot tower was permissible on the site but that a midrise complex was preferred.
Kamehameha Schools and Castle & Cooke sought and won permission for the buildings to rise 65 feet, which is the area height limit for nontower buildings under HCDA rules but is 20 feet higher than old rules binding the Kamehameha Schools master plan.
HCDA rules allow projects to deviate from its standards if the changes produce a superior project with public benefit.
Representatives of the Keawe Street project said they could have built the same amount of residential and commercial space under the 45-foot limit. They said the height bonus allows for the public pedestrian plaza that will lead to a planned city rail station a block away through a plaza area at an adjacent Kamehameha Schools project called Keauhou Lane.
No one testified in person at Tuesday’s hearing. Four people submitted written testimony: One expressed support, two expressed opposition and one offered comments.
At the April hearing, seven people expressed support in person, compared with one in opposition. And prior to that, 11 Waterfront Towers residents opposed the project in written testimony compared with 26 written expressions of support largely from people affiliated with the construction industry.
Bruce Barrett, a Castle & Cooke executive vice president, said he was pleased with HCDA’s approval and anticipates condo sales starting in late summer.
Condo prices are projected to range from the high $300,000s to the mid-$700,000s for one- to three-bedroom units, and 20 units will be restricted to buyers earning no more than 130 percent of Honolulu’s median income, which equates to about $100,000 for a couple and $125,000 for a family of four.
"We think there’s a lot of demand for these price points," Barrett said.
"We have a project that differentiates itself. It’s on a smaller and more human scale."
Monthly rents for the apartments that include studios to three-bedroom units are estimated to range from $1,100 to $1,700, and will be restricted to tenants earning no more than 100 percent of the median income, or about $67,100 for a single person and $96,000 for a family of four.
Applications for rental units won’t be sought until a few months or so before construction is finished around the end of next year.
