Council condemns The Honolulu City Council has approved using its eminent domain powers to condemn four Waikiki parcels to make way for Outrigger Enterprises' Lewers redevelopment project.
Waikiki land
It decides the public good
from the Outrigger project
is most importantBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comBy a 6-3 vote, the Council decided that the public good derived from having Outrigger improve an aging section of Waikiki trumped the rights of private property owners.
The dissenting votes came from Duke Bainum, John DeSoto and Steve Holmes.
Opponents, noting that Outrigger continues to negotiate with the landowners, ripped the condemnation for giving the hotelier an unfair advantage over the landowners.
Andrew Fox, president of the Aiea-Pearl City Business Association, said his organization objects to "the city determining which individuals and businesses fail or succeed."
Outrigger executive Mel Kaneshige said there is precedent for condemnation, noting that much of Chinatown -- including the sites of the Pali shopping center and Chinese Cultural Plaza -- was condemned by the city to allow other private landowners to redevelop.
Robert Klein, an attorney for the landowners, countered that those actions were done under a redevelopment agency that was improving a large blighted area.
In the current case, he said, "you've settled on one developer; you've settled on one solution."
Outrigger has existing lease business interests on the four parcels, which constitute less than 10 percent of the 8-acre project, bounded by Saratoga Road, Kalakaua Avenue, Lewers Street and Kalia Road.
The landowners say they do not oppose Outrigger's improvements but do not want to surrender their fee interests on the lands.
Michael Sullivan, managing director of HVS Capital Corp., testified that his financing and investment banking consultant company believes that the Outrigger project would pose "an unacceptable level of lending risk" if it moved forward with leasehold land.
Councilman Gary Okino said such concerns were the determining factor that led him to support the condemnation.
The risk that a $300 million revitalization that would provide jobs and bolster the economy would be lost was too great, he said.
"It's an opportunity we may never have again," he said.
Waikiki Councilman Duke Bainum said he supports the Outrigger improvements but could not in good conscience support the condemnation.
"We're not only intruding on the marketplace, we're manipulating the marketplace."
City & County of Honolulu
