Kamehameha Schools added details to another piece of its Kakaako development master plan Wednesday, announcing a project called 400 Keawe expected to add 183 homes in two midrise buildings in early 2016.
The roughly $60 million project is made up of a six-story condominium with 95 units developed by Castle & Cooke Homes Hawai‘i Inc., and a seven-story apartment building with 88 rentals developed by Kamehameha Schools.
A 14,500-square-foot plaza, parking and an existing 24,000-square-foot office building to be converted for retail use are also part of the project that represents the fifth detailed piece in the master plan called Our Kaka‘ako.
"Our Kaka‘ako is a growing, vibrant community, and 400 Keawe will be an integral part of the entire master plan," said Bruce Barrett, a Castle & Cooke executive vice president.
Castle & Cooke’s piece includes units with one to three bedrooms and 670 square feet to 1,400 square feet of living space priced from the $400,000s to $700,000s. Of the 95 units, 20 will qualify as moderate-priced housing under rules of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency regulating development in Kakaako.
About 10,000 square feet of retail space also will be part of the Castle & Cooke building.
Apartments in the Kamehameha Schools piece will be rented to middle-income tenants and range from studios to three-bedroom units. Limits on annual income could be roughly up to $52,000 for a single person and $84,000 for a family of four, while monthly rents could range from $1,100 to $1,700.
Construction on 400 Keawe is projected to begin by the end of the year and finish in early 2016 if permit approval is received from HCDA, which will schedule two public hearings on the project.
Some critics of dense residential development in Kakaako, including many people already living in condo towers in the area, complain that roads and wastewater lines are inadequate. HCDA contends that adequate infrastructure is in place to accommodate all the development it has approved and even more that is envisioned.
The 400 Keawe project, which is on 2.8 acres owned by Kamehameha Schools and bounded by Auahi and Pohukaina streets, One Waterfront Towers and Keawe Street, will displace several tenants.
Tenants that include Alu Like, nonprofit volleyball institute Ka Ulukoa, J’s BBQ and Hawaiian Beauty Products Ltd. began receiving notices in June that they would have to relocate to make way for construction of 400 Keawe that will involve demolishing all structures except for the Alu Like building to be converted for retail.
Kamehameha Schools obtained approval for its conceptual master plan in 2009. The plan covers nine contiguous blocks mauka of Ala Moana Boulevard allowed for up to 2,750 housing units in seven towers and several more midrise buildings plus 300,000 square feet of commercial space.
The trust intends to create a "vibrant, urban neighborhood" where entrepreneurs can start businesses and residents can easily commute via mass transit, biking or walking, said Elizabeth Hokada, endowment vice president for Kamehameha Schools.
"Bringing life back to Kakaako is important," she said.
An initial piece of Our Kaka‘ako was a 54-unit affordable-rental apartment building called Six Eighty Ala Moana which Kamehameha Schools converted from an old office building and completed in 2012.
Two other pieces have been approved but have yet to start construction. They are a tower complex with 470 condos called The Collection on the former site of a CompUSA store at the makai end of South Street, and a retail complex dubbed SALT to be created mostly by renovating old buildings on a block next to The Collection.
A fourth piece of the master plan is a 209-unit midrise apartment building next to a 40-story condominium and a midrise townhouse building called Keauhou Lane on a block mauka of the 400 Keawe site. An initial HCDA public hearing on a development permit for Keauhou Lane is set for March 19.
Kamehameha Schools has enlisted several development partners to help realize Our Kaka‘ako — Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc. for The Collection, local developer Stanford Carr for the high-rise portion of Keauhou Lane and Portland, Ore.-based Gerding Edlen for Keauhou Lane’s midrise component.
The trust said Castle & Cooke also understands and shares its vision for Our Kaka‘ako that made the company a good partner.
Castle & Cooke is one of Hawaii’s biggest housing developers, building about 20,000 homes over the past 40 years at projects including Mililani, Royal Kunia and Villages of Kapolei. The 400 Keawe project represents Castle & Cooke’s first project in Kakaako.
