Make a deal on rail easements

The progress of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation rail project is a tightrope walk. On one side, HART must be concerned about cost, and is under tremendous pressure, political and otherwise, to stick to the current spending plan.

On the other is the fact that the project has been beset by so many delays, setting off on a path that could delay the project further would be an outcome nobody should want.

That should include Howard Hughes Corp., developer of a large swath of Kakaako property. The company and HART seem to be in an adversarial position over the city’s need to acquire easements in the Ward area for the transit alignment and rail stop.

Or perhaps it’s just business strategy, and Howard Hughes is merely seeking a better deal than the $10 million it was offered for easements on its 16 parcels.

Regardless, there should be enough common cause between HART and Howard Hughes on the timely completion of the 20-mile rail project that a reasonable agreement could be negotiated sooner rather than later.

Last week the HART board authorized agency executives to make a presentation before the City Council to secure its approval to add eminent domain to the HART tool chest. Eminent domain is the exercise of government’s power to take private property for public use, after paying fair market value for it.

At issue are 16 parcels owned by the Ward Village developer. On the table is a $10 million offer HART made two years ago to Howard Hughes for easements on the 16 parcels.

The company has balked at the offer. Mark Murakami, an attorney for the company, said it’s based on an appraisal that’s nearly three years old, adding that the landowner is “entitled to be compensated for the value of what’s being taken.”

Howard Hughes opposes the condemnation option, a rational reaction shared by HART itself. Eminent domain is a painstaking process that ends with a court ruling on what is or is not a fair price for the taking of private land. Nobody enters into it casually, and HART officials said a negotiated settlement is still being pursued, as it should be.

But the company also is resisting the easements, which amount to just over 2 acres of its land. At the HART board meeting, Murakami was asked if the developer opposed the acquisition of any of the land for the rail. “I think my client opposes all of these,” he said.

The precise plans of where HART needs the easement as a buffer between the rail guideway and other structures “have changed dynamically several times,” Murakami said, “and we have big buildings going up, and operating shopping centers with impacts.”

Of course, the final details would change — HART executives said they have been working closely with the developer on that — but the basic contours of the route have been known for years.

In fact, Howard Hughes has touted the easy access to rail as an asset in sales of its properties. If stops are planned properly, having rail service linking Kapolei and Ala Moana as well as the airport, would be a boon to residents of Howard Hughes’ Ward Village.

And there should be time to plan the rail interface with the properties. In the immediate vicinity of Ward Avenue, Ke Kilohana, a mixed-income condominium on Halekauwila Street, is under construction.

But it may be years before its other towers rise, such as at the site of the former Sports Authority outlet. The developer has a 10-year lease with a business planning an indoor marketplace there.

Both sides need to come to terms on the future development of the rail alongside new condominium towers and shops. As a good corporate citizen, this is the time for Howard Hughes to work cooperatively with the city on the mutually beneficial completion of its rail system.

That would be a sensible business strategy, too.