Honolulu City Council members want Mayor Kirk Caldwell to consider the Hilo Hattie flagship store site in Iwilei as the location for a homeless transition shelter.

City Councilman Joey Manahan said Wednesday that he and others believe the Hilo Hattie site on Nimitz Highway, which is for sale, would be suitable for a much-needed shelter, and preferable to a site at Sand Island that was previously proposed by the Caldwell administration.

The administration has been mum on the future of its long-stalled plan to set up a temporary transition shelter on 5 acres of state-owned land at Sand Island. Council members had told Caldwell last year that they would support his Housing First initiative and a bill prohibiting sitting and lying on Waikiki sidewalks only if a temporary shelter could be established.

Plans to put the shelter on Sand Island were unveiled in August, but encountered resistance from an organization that advocates for the homeless. A soil remediation study to assess the area’s suitability for open air, albeit temporary, sleeping arrangements further delayed the plan.

Manahan voiced frustration Wednesday that the administration has neither moved on the Sand Island plan, the alternative Hilo Hattie building that he and Council Chairman Ernie Martin offered, or some other alternative.

The administration has repeatedly put off a response to Council members when they’ve asked for a status report on the Sand Island plan, Manahan said. Manahan represents the Kalihi region that encompasses both the Sand Island and Hilo Hattie properties, as well as the area around Kapalama Canal that has seen an increase in homeless encampments.

Manahan said that while the Sand Island plan was hung up by a soil study, Managing Director Roy Amemiya suggested alternative sites should be considered.

It was Martin who suggested the Hilo Hattie site, Manahan said. The building contains 87,000 square feet of space, and Hilo Hattie is currently using about 33,000 square feet for retail. "We could co-locate all the services there, we could put temporary shelters there, we’d have everything all in one place," he said.

Up to 800 people could be housed there, along with various services such as hygiene centers and programs to assist those with mental health and substance abuse issues, even an emergency room setting specializing in treating the homeless.

Martin was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Executives at Hilo Hattie, which filed for bankruptcy in February, have made no secret that they want to sell their lease on the Iwilei location as part of an effort to downsize operations. Earlier this month, a California real estate investment firm offered $4.8 million for the property. The company has since agreed to compete with other potential bidders for the site through a U.S. Bankruptcy Court auction. The fee interest on the site is owned by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.

It makes better sense than Sand Island because it already has a building in place, is in closer proximity to more services, including the Institute for Human Services, even a bus loading and unloading area, and would receive more community support, Manahan said. "It’s closer to IHS, and there’s nothing around — no park users, no community pushing back."

Manahan said that he, Martin, Amemiya and other city officials did a walk-through of the site and "we said, ‘OK, let’s start working on that.’"

Gary Nakata, the city’s acting community services director, as well as state Senate Human Services Chairwoman Suzanne Chun Oakland, Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi and Council Public Works, Infrastructure and Sustainability Chairwoman Carol Fukunaga, were among those who went on subsequent walk-throughs, he said. "Everybody loved it," Manahan said. "And so we said, ‘Let’s continue pursuing it.’ It was an ideal location."

He said he spoke with Nakata two weeks ago and was told "they’re still working on it." But as of Wednesday morning, "I’m not really sure where we are with the negotiations," Manahan said.

Amemiya said Wednesday afternoon that while he and other administration officials toured the Hilo Hattie site, they made no commitment to study it further.

"I’m not sure who ‘everybody’ is," Amemiya said, when told Manahan said he believed multiple parties supported purchasing the Hilo Hattie site.

Administration officials felt the Hilo Hattie location had key negative aspects, Caldwell spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said, including "high ground lease rent and other cost items that are problematic (and) having such a large concentration of homeless in one facility in the middle of Nimitz Highway."

Amemiya said that he suggested that the Council talk to the property’s owners to look into how much it would cost to lease the site.

"What I told the Council member is until you get past the ground lease rent, I don’t see how you’re going to have us spend time on it," Amemiya said.

As for the Sand Island situation, both Amemiya and Broder Van Dyke said the administration will be making an announcement in the coming weeks.

"The administration is generally supporting a scattered-site approach to housing homeless, which has been effective on the mainland, rather than creating larger, permanent housing projects," Broder Van Dyke said.

While both the Caldwell administration and the Martin-led Council agree that more housing for the homeless is needed, they have locked horns over how best to proceed.

Caldwell last year initially proposed about $23 million be used to fund Housing First, which focuses on helping those who have been homeless the longest find permanent housing. The Council countered by proposing $32 million for homeless and affordable housing initiatives, but much of it from funds with restrictions on how it can be used.