SamKoo project up for final vote

A Honolulu City Council committee Monday advanced a plan for a 400-foot tower fronting Ala Moana Center despite an in-person plea by Mayor Kirk Caldwell to hold off to allow city officials to keep open the option of using the location for a transit hub and possible path for rail to UH Manoa.

Committee members said the need for affordable sales units in the area outweigh the need for a transit center on the 1.43-acre site — bounded by Kapiolani Boulevard and Kona and Kona Iki streets — and that the city can look elsewhere for a transit hub.

The full Council is scheduled to hold a final vote on Resolution 18-169 at its regular meeting Wednesday.

Developer SamKoo Hawaii is proposing a 43-story condominium tower with 513 units — 310 of them (60 percent) priced for those making between 80 and 140 percent of Oahu’s median income. A separate, 11-story structure would hold 803 parking stalls and a 19,300-square-foot recreation deck.

To make The Central Ala Moana project pencil out, SamKoo is seeking a slew of exemptions from the city. Passage of the resolution would give the developer permission to exceed existing height limits by building up to 400 feet, greater density and a break on $10.7 million in park dedication and other fees.

The project is similar to SamKoo’s 45-story, 485-unit Kapiolani Residence condominium project, about two blocks Diamond Head of The Central’s location and scheduled to be finished in December.

Caldwell urged the panel to think long-term and defer a vote so he could convince the developer to take the lead on a larger project encompassing its property and three neighboring ones that would allow for more units on top of a transit hub.

The site is only several hundred feet from where the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has slotted the final station of its 20-mile, East Kapolei-to-Ala Moana line.

Caldwell said affordable housing remains one of his major priorities, “but I think there is so much future benefit here that perhaps stepping back a bit and looking at the bigger picture is important.”

When the rail is finished, he said, the estimated 43,000 combined bus and rail passengers entering from or exiting there daily would make the area the nation’s third-biggest transit hub behind ones in New York and San Francisco.

He pointed out that a portion of the units that SamKoo is billing as affordable is targeted for those making between 120 and 140 percent AMI category, which is higher than the 120 percent ceiling that the city is now asking of developers. The SamKoo plan calls for 119 units, or 23 percent of the total inventory, to be in the 120-140 percentage of area median income.

Additionally, he said, “when this tower gets built, the most logical way to get up to the University of Hawaii Manoa is now precluded forever unless you tear the building down.”

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi criticized Caldwell for foot-dragging on a transit hub plan, delaying SamKoo from its project. “We could have had families already living in the building,” she said. “But the city asked them to hold off until we knew exactly where the train station is going.”

Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga said she and other Council members toured the Transbay center in San Francisco, “the product of 25-plus years among all kinds of different parties. … This is not something that came up overnight. I applaud the vision. I just think this site is a little bit too late for the discussion to make much sense.”

Councilman Trevor Ozawa, who represents the area, said there are other locations in the vicinity that could be used for a future transit center. “I do think there’s still an opportunity to still build a transit center,” he said. “I think it’s realistic that the other parcels nearby can be acquired.”

Meanwhile, SamKoo should not be prevented from building more affordable housing for the area, he said.

SamKoo officials said there’s a big need for units in the 120-140 AMI category, a point with which Zoning Chairwoman Kymberly Pine agreed. She said SamKoo is going beyond what the city has required other Kapio­lani-area developers to provide in terms of affordable housing.