Developer
pleads case for
Kakaako project

A state panel's final vote is due
tomorrow on the hotly contested
$138 million proposal

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

The Hawaii Community Development Authority is once again considering businessman D.G. "Andy" Anderson's "Kewalo Pointe," a waterfront project the panel appeared ready to kill last month on the recommendation of a subcommittee.

The agency, charged with redeveloping state land in Kakaako, is scheduled for a final vote on the proposed $138 million retail complex tomorrow.

Alternately chiding and cajoling the authority board during a two-hour presentation yesterday, Anderson accused subcommittee members of personal bias against his project and challenged their findings in minute detail.

"If we believed for just a moment that the findings of your subcommittee were even close to being accurate and/or factual, we would fold our tent, say thank you and go on with life," Anderson told the board.

The three-member subcommittee three weeks ago recommended ending negotiations with Anderson, saying he understated construction costs and overstated revenue projections for the project.

Anderson wants to build a complex of restaurants and retail shops including a Ferris wheel and carousel on 10 acres of state land along the waterfront. The property currently houses Fisherman's Wharf, a shipyard, fish auction, and a number of small businesses in old buildings to be demolished.

Speaking in behalf of the project, Albert Yoshiyama, chairman of Constructors Hawaii Inc, said the state's consultant, Rider Hunt Levett & Bailey, overestimated the cost of building Anderson's project by more than $5.4 million. The discrepancies include a $1 million allowance for unnecessary bulkhead work, a $3.6 million overestimate on the cost of building an upper floor and other mistakes.

"I am willing today to build this project for my proposed price," said Yoshiyama, whose $31,708,589 bid was part of Anderson's proposal. He noted that, with adjustment for mistakes, the state's estimate comes to $31,835,580 -- $126,991 more than his.

Also speaking for the project was retail expert Stephany Sofos, president of S.L. Sofos & Co. and a consultant on the project. She said proposed lease rents ranging from $1.50 to $3 a square foot are well within rates assumed by the agency's subcommittee.

Anderson refuted the panel's contention that parking would be inadequate. And he accused the state of trying to foist its own problem with contaminated soil upon him.

"It was never anticipated you would reach so far as to now attempt to shift this state responsibility to us in your desperate effort to find cause to reject our project," Anderson told the board.

The subcommittee's report notes no funds were set aside for the cleanup of tainted soil at the site. But under state and federal environmental regulations, the owner of contaminated property is liable for cleanup costs.

Anderson singled out subcommittee members Bradley Mossman and Michael Kawaharada, saying they were against his project from the start. He accused them of requiring an expensive market study and then paying it no heed.

Neither would comment yesterday but Mossman indicated he would respond to Anderson's allegations tomorrow.

Anderson, who 23 years ago built a successful restaurant -- John Dominis -- in the raggle-taggle industrial neighborhood next to a defunct city dump, has had his eye on the adjacent 10 acres for two decades.

"I like the neighborhood and I think it has potential," he said.

His several attempts at projects in the area have failed. But Anderson has put a vigorous effort into Kewalo Pointe and -- despite his allegations that the board is predisposed against him -- continues to scrap. During a break in yesterday's meeting, Anderson railed against the subcommittee's findings. "I feel that calling all my people liars is slanderous," he told the Star-Bulletin.