Editorial: Kapolei becoming true second city

When does a neighborhood become a city? Perhaps when outsiders will pay to spend a couple of nights there. Surely that indicates a place has much to offer in the way of business, entertainment and other amenities of a “destination.”

Thus, last week’s announcement that a fourth hotel is planned for Kapolei was more than positive Chamber of Commerce news; it solidifies the notion that Oahu’s “second city” — decades in the making — is a real thing.

Kapolei already has 538 rooms in hotels that have opened since 2016. This latest project, under The Element by Westin brand, would add 204 more, in the same block — called Leihano at Kapolei — as two others. The first hotel in the area, a Hampton Inn &Suites, is less than 2 miles away, at Ka Makana Ali‘i mall.

Occupancy rates are clearly high enough to encourage growth. So, what is drawing visitors to land-locked suburbia?

Proximity. To beautiful and uncrowded stretches of sand in Ewa Beach, Kalaeloa, Ko Olina and along the Waianae Coast. To shopping, at the mall, the outlets in Waikele and the discount meccas of Target, T.J. Maxx and the like. To the Waipio Soccer Complex. To entertainment options including a water park, roller-skating rink, bowling alley, go-kart racing, golf courses, a paintball field and deluxe movie theaters (the kind with recliners, two of them). To several government and corporate headquarters. To the University of Hawaii-West Oahu. All a reasonable drive away.

For an upscale resort experience, the fancy restaurants and spas of Ko Olina are also nearby, not to forget Paradise Cove Luau, which draws tour buses all the way from Waikiki.

While posted hotel rates in Kapolei are $200-plus, in Ko Olina they’re at least twice that, to score another point for the second city.

Hotel growth is indicative of the area’s promise and all it has going for it. Even the pandemic brought some positive fallout: Being a Kapolei resident used to mean a ghastly commute to jobs in town, but the advent of teleworking has eased that tremendously, and created a demand for services closer to home.

This adds up to optimism for this westside outpost, now home to about 40,000 in Kapolei proper as well as the older adjunct neighborhoods of Makakilo and Honokai Hale. It’s also prime time to take a breath and make sure we are striking the right balance as we go forward.

The second city’s formative years were in the 1990s, when the first homes, an office complex, schools and a modest shopping center came to Kapolei, mostly under the planning of Campbell Estate. That was a generation ago. The first students in Kapolei’s original elementary school are now of an age that they could make the choice to live and work in this community.

For them, what will be the priorities? Affordable housing, of course, and Kapolei must remain true to that goal, no matter how attractive commercial development might become. Walkability is another big one. Newer Honolulu communities such as Kakaako have shown how foot-friendly neighborhoods can grow around the right mix of retail and restaurant development.

In Kapolei, a priority for single-family housing contributes to sprawl, but the model of Kakaako could work in certain higher-density pockets. That hotel- centric block, Leihano, is in an area zoned for a mix of residential and retail, a smart designation that has allowed for some apartment living near a supermarket and small businesses. It’s a start. And a related wouldn’t-it-be-nice idea: A neighborhood transit system of vans or trolleys.

With the rail line coming (some day, we’ve been told), bringing easy access to the airport and a new stadium (also coming some day, we’ve been told), Kapolei is well poised to be a second city that rivals the first.