Construction on the first of at least five condominium towers in the Ala Moana area kicked off Thursday with rain and a blessing from Hawaiian musician and priest Aaron Mahi.
A company led by California-based developer Johnson Fang held the groundbreaking ceremony for the 184-unit residential high-rise Hawaii City Plaza on Sheridan Street next to Walmart and Sam’s Club.
The project is getting a jump on several other nearby tower projects preparing for construction this year, though Fang plans to build his tower at a slower pace than is typical, taking about three years to finish the 27-story building as compared with a more typical two-year timetable for towers up to 40 stories.
Unit sales are expected to start in March, with prices averaging around $1,000 per square foot of living area. That translates to roughly $600,000 to $1 million for one- and two-bedroom units that range from about 600 to 990 square feet.
Hawaii City Plaza is designed with 147 condos and 37 rental apartments, the latter of which will be restricted for 30 years to Hawaii residents who earn no more than 80 percent of Honolulu’s median income.
The city’s current affordable-housing guidelines permit monthly rents up to $1,527 for one-bedroom units and $2,031 for two-bedroom units, with tenants earning up to $65,350 for a single person or $100,800 for a family of five. However, these figures likely will change in three years.
“By building this mixed-use property in the central Ala Moana area, our goal is a priority to provide a high-quality residence to the local people,” said
Michelle Hu, vice president of Hawaii City Plaza LP.
The partnership affiliated with Fang’s California Investment Regional Center LLC had a rocky start to its permitting process two years ago when City Councilman Ikaika Anderson asked whether Fang was going to sell or market more than half of the tower’s condos to investors from China. After some unclear responses from Fang,
Anderson expressed his disdain for the project.
Other development team members later said Fang, who primarily speaks Chinese, had trouble explaining his plan in English.
Under Hawaii law at least half the sales in any new residential condo must be initially offered only to Hawaii residents committing to live in the units. Fang did plan to have Chinese investors help finance construction of the tower under a federal program that provides green cards to foreigners who invest $500,000 into certain American job-creating projects, for which Hawaii City Plaza qualifies. But those investors are entitled only to a financial return on the project and don’t receive a priority to buy condos, Fang said through an interpreter in a previous interview.
At Thursday’s ceremony City Councilwoman Ann
Kobayashi praised Fang and the project. “This neighborhood needs this kind of building,” she said.
City planners have zoned much of the area around Keeaumoku Street and Kapiolani Boulevard, which is within a half-mile of a planned rail station at Ala Moana Center, to allow more and taller buildings than standard rules permit in return for community benefits such as affordable housing.
So far, about a dozen tower projects in the area have been publicly disclosed. The first of these, Kapiolani Residence, was completed in December.
Expected to follow
Hawaii City Plaza is a project called Azure Ala Moana on Keeaumoku Street with
408 condos and rental apartments. Sales for this project began about three months ago, and more than 60 percent of the condos have been sold. Construction is slated to start in April.
Also early this year, on Kapiolani Boulevard, construction is expected to start on The Central Ala Moana with 513 condos. Sales for those units also began last year.
Sometime between April and June, construction should start on a project called Mana‘olana Place where 135 condos and
109 hotel rooms are planned at Kapiolani Boulevard and Atkinson Drive.
And by the end of the year, Fang anticipates starting to build a second tower, called Hawaii Ocean Plaza, on Kapiolani Boulevard. It will feature 216 condos and 175 hotel rooms.
