Piikoi
retirement complex
in the works

UP Corp. has filed to
develop a project with room
for 309 residents in
201 apartments

By Jerry Tune
Star-Bulletin

The UP Corp. has filed an application with the state to develop a large retirement community at Piikoi and Kamaile streets in the Kapiolani district.

The project would have 201 fee-simple apartments with room for 309 residents. It would include 22 beds for assisted living, which provides help in daily chores such as food preparation and bathing; 44 beds for people in need of skilled nursing; and 22 beds for Alzheimer's patients.

"This is like a modern-day Arcadia," said developer Don Graham, who built the Arcadia on Punahou Street in 1967 while he was an executive with the Dillingham Corp. Graham described the Arcadia and the planned Piikoi project as a "continuing care retirement" communities that care for elderly people.

Graham's current firm, Graham Murata Russell, is the development manager for the UP Corp.

He said the plan is to form a nonprofit corporation to be the owner-sponsor and sell the apartments at prices in the high $100,000 range to just over $200,000.

The units would be sold under the same type of arrangement as at the Arcadia. Residents of the Piikoi project buy the unit and are guaranteed care for their lifetime. At death, the units revert back to the project's owners.

"We're in the very early stage," Graham said. "There are many steps to go."

These steps include getting approval from the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency responsible for Kakaako development; 70 percent presales to get financing; and possible use of special purpose revenue bonds.

"We have just begun an evaluation of the project, and it won't come before the (HCDA) board until August or September," said Alex Achimore, the authority's development program director.

UP Corp. gave Graham permission to file the application now to meet the June deadline and qualify for a waiver of the HCDA affordable housing requirement.

The authority approved the waiver policy last year to stimulate construction in Kakaako. The HCDA had required developers to make 20 percent of the units in a project affordably priced or they could pay an in-lieu fee based on the sales value of the housing. Developers said the requirement has hurt the feasibility of several Kakaako projects.

Achimore said if the UP Corp.'s nonprofit organization qualifies as a charitable group then it also would not face public fees for parks and schools.

The UP Corp.'s application at the HCDA includes plans prepared by Sam Chang Architects & Associates Inc.

The planned 329,650-square-foot facility features a 300-foot-tall tower and a 45-foot-high parking garage for 250 cars. The tower would include amenities for dining, recreation, an art studio and a theater-chapel.

The development would sit on about 89,692-square-feet of land, which represents about one-third of the 6.1-acre vacant parcel bordered by Pensacola, Piikoi, and Kamaile streets and Kapiolani Boulevard.

The UP Corp. bought the 6.1 acres from Asahi Jyuken Hawaii Inc. which had planned to build a twin-tower high rise, complete with 348 luxury condominium units, 70 affordable units and commercial space.

UP Corp. is the Hawaii subsidiary of Japan Leasing Corp. which made the development loan to Asahi Jyuken Hawaii Inc. After UP Corp. took back the property it removed old warehouse and office buildings from the land.

The UP Corp. was formed in March 1995. State records show its officers as Masatomi Terashi, president; Hiroshi Tominaga, vice president, and local attorney Cliff Miller, secretary and treasurer.