Oo sticks, wielded by Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and an assortment of bankers, developers and other local officials, broke ground Tuesday on a $199 million affordable rental project offering two on-site preschools in Kapolei.
During a Hawaiian blessing ceremony that drew about a hundred people to a sizable, graded dirt lot, city and state officials touted the pending Parkway Village at Kapolei — developed by The Kobayashi Group and the Ahe Group — as a first-of-its-kind mixed-use project that will feature 405 affordable rental units, linked to early education child care facilities to be overseen by Kamehameha Schools.
Local leaders say this
affordable project falls in line with the state’s and city’s parallel goals to build more housing overall.
Gov. Josh Green’s administration says 50,000 homes are sought to be built statewide over the next five years, while the city desires 21,000 additional units to be built on Oahu by 2030, according to state reports.
“One of the things that we continue to talk about is affordable housing,” Luke told attendees. “But it’s really about affordable housing for our local people that has been top of mind for many of us.”
She added that this particular affordable rental project “provides the opportunity for many of our struggling, working families to have a place to live.”
To be built on vacant, city-owned land off Manawai Street near Kapolei Parkway, the Parkway Village project will consist of studios to four-bedroom rental units for tenants earning 30% to 60% of the area median income, the city says. According to the state, a family of four earning 30% AMI equates to a $39,300 annual income.
In this project, rents start at $597 for a studio at 30% AMI, while a four-bedroom unit at 60% AMI will be $2,123 a month, the city says. The development is also expected to feature 641 parking stalls, 10 laundry room facilities and three recreation rooms.
Moreover, Parkway Village will include six preschool classrooms to be operated by Kamehameha Schools and Partners in Development Foundation, the city says.
According to Luke, besides affordable housing, “the No. 1 issue that people have is affordable child care.”
“If we don’t have affordable child care, people cannot go back to work, people cannot go and have a livable wage for their families,” Luke added. “This project is the first one where a developer is incorporating child care services for the very tenants that will be living in these units.”
Blangiardi agreed, saying the project was an example of government and the private sector “collaborating to benefit Oahu families.”
“I’m proud that this project will be built on land owned by the city,” he added. “Parkway Village will create long-term, affordable rentals for 405 families, and it will be part of a vibrant community. And most importantly, they’ll know that they’ll be able to stay in their homes — really important in today’s world.”
Blangiardi said the partnership between Kamehameha Schools and Partners in Development will “create opportunities for keiki to thrive in school and in life in this community.”
In 2022 the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. granted the Parkway Village project funding through a tax credit program meant to create more affordable housing statewide, under the state’s 201-H law.
Dean Minakami, HHFDC interim executive director, said the project — to be built in the heart of Kapolei — was brought to his agency three years ago.
“We were thinking then that it was a fantastic
project,” he said at the groundbreaking. “So, I’m very happy to see it move forward.”
For his part, Council Chair Tommy Waters said he wished to see more affordable housing projects advance for all income levels. And he said Parkway Village was “wonderful” but that more needed to be done.
“We need help, actually,” said Waters, “because we’re passing a lot of good projects up from the city and even the state. People say, ‘I love affordable housing, but not in my backyard.’”
Later, Kahu Kelekona Bishaw, pastor of Kamehameha Schools, presided over a blessing ceremony that included use of oo sticks — traditional, wooden Hawaiian digging sticks — to symbolically turn an embankment of soil at the project’s site.
After the groundbreaking, the Kobayashi Group said Parkway Village continues its effort to bring more affordable housing to the island.
“Kobayashi Group is committed to doing our part
to address the affordable housing crisis,” a company spokesperson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email. “We have completed or are building 1,249 affordable rental or for-sale housing units on Oahu since last year.”
To that end, the developer said it initially applied for funding for the Parkway Village project through HHFDC’s affordable-housing financing programs in 2021.
However, the company says that due to the state’s competitive affordable-housing bond program and the size of the project, funding for Parkway Village was not approved in 2021.
Kobayashi Group reapplied for that funding, which was approved in July 2022, the company added.
According to the city, the Parkway Village project received a $36 million rental housing revolving fund loan via HHFDC, $112 million in low-income housing tax credits and $98 million in Hula Mae multifamily tax-exempt bonds.
The project’s construction is expected to commence soon, while its date of completion is scheduled for fall 2025, the city says.
