A California-based development firm plans to build a condominium tower on an industrial site long used for automobile repair across from the Walmart and Sam’s Club stores on Sheridan Street.

The project is proposed under interim city rules that allow greater building density and height close to planned rail stations, and would extend high-rise development into part of the urban Honolulu neighborhood known as the Sheridan Tract mainly made up of low-density residential and commercial uses.

Hawaii City Plaza would be 26 stories with 163 condo units above commercial space for three restaurants and parking.

Of the residential units, 20 percent, or 33 units, would be reserved for moderate-income residents at affordable prices under city guidelines.

Jim Freeman, a principal with Honolulu-based FSC Architects that designed the tower, presented the plan to the Ala Moana/Kakaako Neighborhood Board on Tuesday evening. He said the project would enhance the area by providing restaurants with outdoor seating along a wide pedestrian promenade while producing badly needed affordable housing.

“The developer wants to build affordable units on site in your neighborhood,” Freeman told the board.

According to marketing materials for the tower, sale prices are projected to range from $369,000 to $625,000 for affordable units and from $490,000 to $1.6 million for market-rate units. Unit sizes range from 659 square feet with one bedroom and one bathroom to 1,528 square feet with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Ryan Tam, chairman of the neighborhood board, made a motion to support the project’s concept, but no one seconded the motion so there was no vote. Neighborhood boards serve mostly in an advisory capacity to the city government. Support of the neighborhood board is helpful but not necessary for a project.

Larry Hurst, a longtime board member and past chairman, said he’s not so much in favor of the plan. “It doesn’t fit the area,” he said after the meeting.

Freeman said the project fits with the city’s draft transit-oriented development, or TOD, plan for areas within a quarter-mile of the rail station planned at Ala Moana Center.

Under existing zoning rules that allow for commercial and residential use of the property, the height limit for the parcel is 150 feet. The draft TOD plan has a 250-foot height limit and also higher density.

The draft TOD plan promotes a wide variety of housing. “A mix of for-sale and rental housing within a range of prices would help attract a wider demographic, making local neighborhoods stronger and more sustainable,” the draft plan states.

Freeman said the developer isn’t asking for variances or anything that’s not allowed under the city’s interim TOD rules that allow developers to proceed with higher-density projects near planned rail stations before rules are finalized.

The developer of the project is Hawaii City Plaza LP, whose general partner is California Investment Regional Center LLC, based in El Monte, Calif. The California firm said on its website it is developing a Hilton Garden Inn hotel, a residential low-rise and a retail plaza in that state. Those three projects and the Hawaii tower are promoted in Chinese as investment opportunities for international investors to finance development in return for U.S. residency under the federal government’s EB-5 immigrant investor program.

EB-5 allows foreign investors to obtain green cards if they contribute at least $1 million in projects that create a certain number of jobs. The minimum investment can be $500,000 in areas where greater economic development is desired. The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism approved the Hawaii City Plaza site as within one of these more economically challenged areas in October.

The property at 710 Sheridan St. was for many years the site of a tire sales and service business operated by Motor Supply Ltd. and later Goodyear. Motor Supply, a local company, sold the property to laundry service firm Hakuyosha International in 2008 for $6.2 million. Today, the property is a NAPA auto center.

In recent years, Hakuyosha, which has a dry cleaning store next to 710 Sheridan, marketed the land as an excellent opportunity to develop a retail and condo project.

Hawaii City Plaza’s developer has an arrangement to buy the property along with the Hakuyosha store, according to Freeman. Another neighboring property occupied by a couple of hostess bars is not part of the sale and redevelopment plan.

Freeman said the developer hopes to ideally begin construction by the end of the year, though much depends on the city processing the permit that Freeman said is close to being submitted.