Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration says it’s seeking a developer to turn a vacant city-owned parcel in West Oahu into a mixed-use, transit-oriented development that will feature hundreds of affordable housing units.
City officials say the site — subdivided into two separate lots totaling about 15.19 acres between Wakea Street and Kamokila Boulevard in Kapolei — is an underutilized property surrounded by schools, parks, health care services and retail establishments.
The city says it plans to build 600 to 800 affordable units at the location.
“Currently, the site is undeveloped, with scrub vegetation and exposed soil,” Ryan Wilson, a city spokesperson, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email.
To secure a public-private partnership, the city Department of Housing and Land Management released a request for qualifications, or RFQ, to find a developer.
“The city and the offeror may enter into a pre-development contract, and will enter into a development contract and ground lease for the design, financing, construction, and operation of a future mixed-use, (TOD) project with a significant affordable housing component on the property,” the RFQ states.
“The city will provide a 75-year ground lease for the property,” the document asserts. “The offeror shall propose ground lease rent as part of its submission. Ground rent proposals should take into consideration different rental proposals for different uses.”
Wilson said the city will accept RFQs from all qualified developers. He noted the estimated cost of the project is not yet known.
“The dollar value will depend on the proposal submitted by the qualified development partner,” he added.
As far as potential city funding, the RFQ notes “the offeror may include a request for funding in its proposal. The city is in no way obligated to grant such request and reserves ultimate and sole discretion over any funding grant.”
In a statement, Blangiardi called this effort “a tremendous opportunity for Kapolei and for the families who want to call this wonderful community home.”
“Kapolei continues to grow, and we need to make sure that growth includes real, affordable housing options for residents,” the mayor said. “By putting underutilized land to better use, we’re enabling and creating affordable homes, supporting working families, and making long-term investments in West Oahu’s future.”
The city says this proposed development builds on a similar project nearby.
Parkway Village at Kapolei, a 401-unit affordable rental community, is located on city-owned land just west of the vacant parcel awaiting development.
The Parkway Village project features green spaces, recreation rooms, 641 parking stalls, 10 laundry facilities, and the state’s first privately developed public charter preschool.
As proposed, the Parkway project 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 $45,600 annual income.
Proposed Parkway rents were to start at $597 for a studio at 30% AMI, while a four-bedroom unit at 60% AMI would be $2,123 a month, the city said.
In September 2023, Blangiardi, along with Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, and an assortment of bankers, developers and other local officials, broke ground on the reported $199 million affordable rental project.
During a Hawaiian blessing ceremony that drew about a hundred people to a sizable, graded dirt lot, city and state officials touted Parkway — developed by the Kobayashi Group and the Ahe Group — as a first-of-its-kind mixed-use project that was also linked to early education child care facilities to be overseen by Kamehameha Schools.
Phase one of Parkway was completed in December 2024. Construction of phase two is now underway, the city said.
“Parkway Village was completed in just 15 months. This project clearly demonstrates that with the right tools and partnerships, underutilized city-owned land can be transformed into more affordable housing faster, while creating lasting benefits for the community,” Kevin Auger, DHLM’s director-designate, said in a statement. “With these additional parcels, we intend to replicate that success, and do it in a way that’s fully integrated with the island’s future.”
Auger added “with Skyline expanding this October to connect residents directly to major activity centers, this site represents one of our best opportunities to build transit-connected housing that truly supports working families.”
As far as RFQs are concerned, a nonmandatory pre-proposal conference will be held on Friday to provide an overview of the solicitation process and respond to general questions from interested applicants.
Questions related to this solicitation should be emailed no later than June 27. Final submissions are due by 1 p.m. July 21, the city said.
Established in April, DHLM was created to align the city’s housing and land functions under a single department. The agency works to deliver affordable, senior, workforce, mixed-use and mixed-income housing, city officials say.
Correction: The size of the city property in Kapolei is 15.19 acres. An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect, larger area for the property.
