Tower plans advance

Plans for a 36-story hotel-condominium tower across from the Hawai‘i Convention Center won a key approval from the City Council Planning and Zoning Committee on Thursday.

The proposal for the Mana‘olana Place Hotel and Residential Condominium Project calls for a mix of uses including 109 dwelling units, 125 hotel rooms, retail and restaurant space, and a public plaza at the street level fronting Kapiolani Boulevard and Atkinson Drive.

While existing zoning allows for a 350-foot tower at the location, Resolution 16-172 would give California-based Mana‘olana Partners a permit allowing the tower to go up to 400 feet in height. The developers point out that the final draft of the Ala Moana Neighborhood Transit Oriented Development plan allows for buildings up to 400 feet and allows for other “flexibility” in land-use restrictions to encourage building near the city’s planned rail stops.

Other variances sought include relaxation of setback requirements, more floor space, half the required parking spaces, reduced landscaping and the ability to operate a full-service hotel where zoning allows a limited-service facility.

The Interim Planned Development-Transit Permit would be the first ever granted by the city if the full Council approves it, possibly at its Sept. 7 meeting. Council Zoning and Planning Chairman Trevor Ozawa initially said he would take the resolution to the community for a public hearing, but toward the end of the meeting, he said it instead would go to the full Council for a final vote.

The 50,541-square-foot complex would be developed on two parcels that are the current home to five one-and two-story commercial buildings that house, among other things, a 7-Eleven and various bars and restaurants. Those buildings would be demolished to make way for the project.

Jim Ratkovich, a Mana‘olana partner, said the project “transforms an area where there’s crime, drug dealers and strip clubs into … a half-billion-dollar investment in your community.”

Kathleen Kagawa of Hawaii 5-0 Properties, which manages the two parcels, said, “We have had consistent problems with drug dealers, with defecation, with trash, with homelessness. This is the entrance to our beautiful Waikiki, something that’s very important to us and our economy.”

Construction trade and tourism industry representatives told committee members that both hotel rooms and condominium units are badly needed in the area, as well as construction jobs.

Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, executive director of the Hawaii Construction Alliance, said he anticipates work on the project would begin in the 2018-2020 period when construction work on Oahu is expected to start slowing down.

Several Council members noted that the Kapiolani- Atkinson intersection is among the most notorious in the city for collisions.

“There has to be traffic mitigation to that area,” Ozawa said.

City staff planner Elizabeth Krueger said the developer would be required to submit periodic traffic studies and make ongoing improvements as necessary even after the project is completed. Mana‘olana officials said they were unsuccessful in efforts to persuade General Growth Properties, to realign Kona Street, which GGP owns.

Mana‘olana Partners is providing $7 million in community benefits, including a $2.4 million in-lieu fee to meet its affordable-housing condition.

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs voiced the only concern raised Thursday about the project when it objected to the affordable-housing contribution, calling it “relatively meager.” OHA, in written comments, said the developer should be required to provide actual, physical units to meet its affordable-housing condition rather than paying a fee.

City Planning Director George Atta said the $2.4 million fee was calculated by multiplying $45 per square foot by the project’s residential floor area of 53,390 square feet.

Mana‘olana is also developing a second condominium-hotel project several blocks away next to the Keeaumoku Street Walgreens.

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CORRECTION: The property that houses the Seoul Garden Yakiniku restaurant and Club Femme Nu strip club is not part of the proposed Mana‘olana tower project site as was reported in an earlier version of this story and in Friday’s print edition. Also, General Growth Properties owns Kona Street but not the Ala Moana Hotel property, as was reported.