Convention gateway Landowners asked the city Planning Commission to delay Mayor Jeremy Harris' plan to condemn five Kapiolani area parcels for a gateway plaza.
plaza approved
Planning Commission unanimously
favors Kapiolani area projectBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinBut the commission voted 7-0 yesterday to send to the City Council its recommendation in favor of a bill that would create one-acre project at Kapiolani Boulevard, Kalakaua Avenue and Kalauokalani Way.
"This is an exceptional request being asked for by the mayor," said Harry Yee, an attorney for the RSK Lum Trust, which owns the site occupied by the strip bar Club Rock-Za.
Allen Wolff, attorney for landowner Daiichi Hawaii Real Estate Corp., said the city needs to consider what he believes are the substantial negative financial repercussions to both his client and city coffers.
Daiichi Hawaii owns the three properties on the Kalakaua side of the block under consideration.
Ken Ryan of Ryan Associates, whose family has owned the Kalauokalani building that now houses Da Hui surf shop, did not testify at the meeting but spoke to reporters afterward also expressing objections to the project.
Landowners and lessees were skeptical about the $3 million set aside for property purchase and $250,000 allocated for relocation of businesses.
Troy Alotis, a co-owner of Da Hui, said he thought his store was part of the solution, not the problem. The company put in more than $100,000 in renovations before it opened, he said. Alotis said only recently his company got honored by Councilman Andy Mirikitani for cleaning up the area.
Not all opposed the mayor's plan for open air walkways and outdoor dining.
John Breinich, chairman of the Ala Moana Kakaako Neighborhood Board, and state Sen. Carol Fukunaga both endorsed the plan as an improvement over the unsightly sex-oriented establishments that dominate the area.
City & County of Honolulu
