A state board has selected a developer to put up a low-income rental apartment tower and a new youth shelter and service center on the site of a run-down former juvenile detention center on state land in Pawaa.

Board members of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. unanimously approved local development firm Kobayashi Group for the $87.6 million project with 198 residences.

Kobayashi Group was one of several competitors that responded to a request for proposals HHFDC made in November, and was recommended by a selection committee comprising staff members of the state Judiciary, which owns the land, and HHFDC.

The development firm anticipates it can begin construction in early 2020 and finish in late 2021.

“This is a very happy day for us,” said Kathy Inouye, a senior adviser with Kobayashi Group, on Thursday. “We feel it is our responsibility as people that live and work in this state to help contribute to solutions for affordable housing.”

Kobayashi Group is largely recognized as a luxury housing developer, but the company has done a wide range of projects, including retail, public schools and affordable housing.

The state is providing the land for the Pawaa project under a lease for $1 a year and contributing $15 million for the juvenile facility. Kobayashi Group intends to seek a state loan, tax credits and bonds to help finance the project.

Affordable units in the envisioned 18-story tower are slated to range from studios averaging 380 square feet of living space to two-bedroom units averaging 705 square feet of living space.

Of the 198 units, 188 would be reserved for households earning no more than 60 percent of Honolulu’s median income, which equates to $43,980 for a single person, $50,220 for a couple and $62,760 for a family of four. Ten units would be for households earning half those amounts.

Maximum tenant rents under agency guidelines, if apartments were available this year, would be $1,099 for a studio, $1,177 for a one- bedroom unit and $1,413 for a two-bedroom unit at the higher income level.

Juvenile facilities adjacent to the tower would be run by the Judiciary, which currently uses the site for a community service and restitution program for juvenile probationers as well as for programs that provide counseling, school and rehabilitation for children who violate youth-specific laws such as truancy or curfew, or are low-risk offenders who can’t return home for safety or other reasons.

Previously, the property containing two buildings dating to before 1949 was used as a juvenile detention center that was relocated next to Kapolei’s Family Court complex.