Residential towers planned near Aloha Stadium

Future high-rises are envisioned near a rail station next to Aloha Stadium in Halawa, but one developer wants to build extra-tall and dense towers beyond where city planners have prescribed such development.

The two-tower project with 524 new homes would rise almost twice as high as allowed under current zoning or draft rules promoting more development near rail stations.

A consultant for the owner of 3 acres next to Ha­lawa Stream shared project plans with the Aiea Neighborhood Board on Monday night.

The consultant, Keith Kurahashi with local planning firm RM Towill Corp., told the board that his client would like the city to expand transit-oriented development, or TOD, zoning that allows bigger buildings near the Halawa rail station.

“These areas are prime areas for redevelopment,” Kurahashi said of the site and neighboring land that he believes should be up-zoned from existing medium-density apartment use. “The density and the height (addition) always helps to increase ridership for the rail.”

The developer seeks to build one 250-foot tower and one 276-foot tower on land where the height limit is 150 feet.

Kurahashi said his client, a development partnership that includes a nonprofit led by former state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Kali Watson, will seek to qualify its project under a state program that allows zoning exemptions in return for making most homes affordable to households with moderate incomes.

Under the city’s draft Halawa TOD plan, which is pending before the City Council, buildings up to 250 feet are allowed in just one area bordering the rail station while land beyond that but within a half-mile of the station allows maximum building heights from 75 to 150 feet.

The site proposed for 524 homes is just within a half-mile of the station.

Density for the planned project is 5.6 square feet of building space for every square foot of land. The limit under existing and proposed TOD zoning for the site is 1.9.

“Hopefully, the Council members would agree that this is an area that should have been increased in height and density,” Kurahashi told the board. He also said the project could move ahead without amending draft TOD zoning under state affordable-housing rules.

Some members of the neighborhood board and the community raised concerns about density, traffic, parking and view planes.

Board Chairman Bill Clark suggested that Kurahashi’s justification that 524 more households on the site would help rail ridership isn’t a good reason to build up the area to the degree sought.

“It is turning (the area) into metropolitan Honolulu,” he said.

Board member Michael Dwyer noted that the project site borders low-rise apartments and a single-­family home subdivision. “You want to put up a 250-foot thing next to low-rises?” he asked.

Other concerns included the developer’s plan to provide about 600 parking stalls for 524 homes, or about 1.2 stalls per unit.

Douglas Torres, who lives in the subdivision next to the development site, said his community will be overrun with tower residents driving through and trying to park their cars in his neighborhood.

“It’s going to be overflow,” he said. “We’re going to have big problems.”

Board member Stephen Wood said he believes the parking plan is inadequate and that the developer should address community concerns. But he also said more for affordable housing is needed. “Our housing issue is way more important,” Wood said.

The board didn’t vote to take a position on the project, but asked that the developer respond to traffic, parking and view plane concerns at a future board meeting. Kurahashi said the developer will consider comments raised and report back. An endorsement or opposition from the board can influence decisions by city and state officials.

Halawa View Housing Partners LP is the developer. The company, formed by California-based Pacific Development Group and Watson’s Hawaiian Community Development Board, purchased the 3-acre site that includes a 14-story low-income rental housing complex called Halawa View Apartments for $3.1 million in 2014.

The partnership obtained mainly state and federal financing to renovate the existing 121 apartments for $18.7 million and keep them affordable for low-income households.

Under an expansion plan, the partnership wants to build a 27-story tower with 340 units and parking on an existing parking lot and then replace a pair of three-story apartment buildings on the site with a roughly 25-story tower containing 184 units and parking.

Kurahashi said the developer aims to seek low-­income housing tax credits from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency that helps finance affordable housing. If credits are granted, the new towers would be rental apartments for residents earning no more than 60 percent of Honolulu’s median income.

If the developer can’t obtain tax credits, Kurahashi said the towers would be condominiums with just over half the units sold at prices affordable to households earning 80 to 140 percent of the median income. Remaining units would be sold at market prices.

Sale prices for condos reserved for buyers earning 80 to 140 percent median income could range from $340,600 to $745,000 depending on income and family size, he said.