Long-delayed plans for new, low-rise residential condominium units are to come to fruition in March with groundbreaking for The Cove Waikiki on Kaioo Drive, off Hobron Lane.

Plans call for 117 one- and two-bedroom units in three five-story buildings on the 1.6-acre site, with fee-simple prices starting at $350,000.

Deteriorating rental apartments built in the 1940s and 1950s that previously occupied the land were razed in 2003.

Waikiki Palms LP is the owner.

In 2004 the former owner, Oaktree Capital Management LLC, listed the land for sale at $9.5 million. When it did not sell, Oaktree and principals of U.S. Pacific Development LLC formed Kaioo LLC and proposed a pair of six-story buildings dubbed the Waikiki Palms in 2006.

Oaktree had previously converted the former Ohana Hobron Hotel into the Windsor residential condominium adjacent to The Cove site.

Waikiki Palms LP is the successor entity to Kaioo LLC. Waikiki Palms is a partnership of the developers of The Vanguard Lofts and Ledcor Properties.

The Cove Waikiki units will include parking on lower floors with residential units on upper floors.

A sales office at 1800 Kaioo Drive, led by broker Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, will open Saturday.