The developer of Ward Village is seeking to add more condominiums with upper-moderate prices to its mostly million-dollar luxury residential high-rise neighborhood in Kakaako.
Howard Hughes Corp. has submitted an application to develop what would be its seventh permitted condo tower in a 60-acre master plan envisioned for up to 22 towers with 4,300 homes and 1 million square feet of retail and restaurant space.
At least 100 residences in the new 751-unit tower will be reserved for local residents earning no more than 140 percent of the median income in Honolulu, while overall prices are projected to be lower than the three towers under construction at Ward Village.
Todd Apo, vice president of community development in Hawaii for Texas-based Hughes Corp., said the decision to proceed with another tower was driven partly from the sellout earlier this year of a Ward Village tower called Ke Kilohana where 375 of the tower’s 425 units have the high-moderate price cap as part of a state affordable-housing requirement.
“You saw the market for the smaller and more reasonably priced units,” he said, referring to 956 applications the company received to buy a unit at Ke Kilohana, where prices for the 375 homes ranged from $323,475 for one-bedroom units to $560,774 for three-bedroom units.
Apo said 400 prospective buyers are still on a waitlist for one-bedroom units, which led Hughes Corp. to design the new tower, dubbed ‘A‘ali‘i, with smaller units ranging from studios to two-bedroom units.
Prices have not been set yet for ‘A‘ali‘i but should be in the neighborhood of Ke Kilohana for at least 100 units, and overall will be less than the most recent tower to break ground, Ae‘o, where the average price is about $1 million for 466 units above a planned Whole Foods store.
Apo said there could be more than 100 units in ‘A‘ali‘i that are targeted to a “gap group” of Hawaii residents who often can’t afford market-priced homes but don’t qualify for other affordable-housing programs tailored to median- and low-income households.
If the permit for the new tower is approved, Hughes Corp. expects to start selling units next year. If units were sold this year, the income limit for buyers of the gap group units would be $86,150 for a single person, $98,450 for a couple and $123,050 for a family of four.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency that regulates development of Kakaako, requires 20 percent of all high-rise homes developed in the area be affordable and reserved for this gap group.
Hughes Corp. recently submitted a development permit application for ‘A‘ali‘i to HCDA. The agency is expected to hold public hearings on the application on Nov. 2 and 3.
The developer is seeking a deviation from HCDA rules to permit the base of the tower to rise 75 feet instead of 45 feet under rules that apply to the Ward Village master plan. Hughes Corp. obtained the same allowance for three of its other towers — Anaha, Ae‘o and Ke Kilohana — and a 65-foot base height for its Waiea tower and a pair of towers called Gateway Towers.
Apo said the taller base will allow the company to put homes and retail shops around the rim of the parking garage that typically occupies most of a tower’s base, and make the street front more active and attractive.
“In the long run, it’s a better community,” he said.
Another deviation being sought from HCDA standards is to have the broad side of ‘A‘ali‘i 206 feet from the broad side of Ae‘o. HCDA rules specify a minimum 300-foot spacing between the broad sides of towers “to the extent practicable” under rules applying to Ward Village.
Apo said the closer spacing is necessary because of Native Hawaiian burials identified near the Ewa side of the project site and to leave enough room so that one more envisioned tower fronting Queen Street can have its narrow sides facing the mountains and ocean to preserve more mauka-makai views.
Much of the site slated for development of ‘A‘ali‘i had been occupied by two warehouses demolished to make room to work on Ae‘o. One more warehouse will be demolished to make room for the newest tower, displacing six tenants including Ala Moana Produce and Midnight Tinting.
If the permit for the new tower is approved, starting construction would depend on the result of sales. The gap group units at Ke Kilohana sold out in April. A groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction of that tower is planned next week, and construction should be completed in 2019.
The first Ward Village tower, Waiea, where the average unit price is $3.6 million, is on pace for completion in November. Anaha is set to be done in the middle of next year. Ae‘o broke ground earlier this year and should be done in 2018. Construction on Gateway Towers, which has prices similar to Waiea, is expected to begin next year.
