6 high-end Kahala homes planned

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. plans to build some high-end speculative housing on Kahala Avenue as part of its strategy to profit from its more than $100 million purchase of 30 residential properties on the street two years ago from Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto.

The local real estate investment and development firm laid out plans to build six homes on a 1.3-acre beachfront lot at 4607 Kahala Ave. in a draft environmental assessment published by the state Tuesday.

The homes — each of which would have about 5,000 square feet of single-level living space and a pool — would be built as three separate buildings, each with one home on top of another in a configuration sometimes referred to as “stacked flats.”

A&B said in the environmental assessment that the homes will be attached single-family residences under the city’s land use ordinance and that up to seven homes are permissible on the lot under zoning rules. The stacked flats would not be taller than the 25-foot height limit allowed by zoning.

Previously, there were two or three homes on the property that were demolished by Kawamoto.

A&B estimated that its project will cost $40 million to $45 million and that planning and permitting could be done by 2017 to allow construction to be finished in 2019.

To date, A&B has mostly sold its former Kawamoto properties, which included a mix of vacant lots and homes, as they were or after some fixing up.

A&B bought the 30 Kahala properties and four in Windward Oahu and on Maui in two deals for a combined $128 million in late 2013. The Honolulu-based firm has resold about 20 of the 30 Kahala parcels for roughly $120 million, and earlier this year projected it can earn another $65 million to $81 million selling the remaining properties.