Rainbow Pier Development, a group of investors seeking to develop 15 acres of state waterfront land at Piers 5 and 6, has lost its chance to be the only company to negotiate with the state for use of the land. Aloha Tower seeks
proposals for Piers
5 and 6State board ignores a request
to negotiate with a single companyBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comThe board of directors of the Aloha Tower Development Corp. voted yesterday to issue a request for proposals, letting any developer propose ideas for the property. Rainbow Pier would have to join in that process and compete with the others.
The Rainbow Pier group, headed by Nevada investor William E. "Matt" Dillon, intends to do just that, the group's Honolulu spokesman, Wayne Vieira, said yesterday.
"We're going to proceed," Vieira said.
His group in March formally proposed two high-rise buildings on the site, as high as 300 feet, mixing office, residential and retail use, with a village complex, water pools and falls, surrounded by luxury low-rise residential condominiums and a ferry terminal.
Rainbow Pier applied for exclusive rights to negotiate with the ATDC and was to come back yesterday with all its details in place. Unfortunately, Vieira told the board, a number of factors prevented that, including the loss of a potential developer that would have contracted with the financing group. Pasadena, Calif.-based developer Jim Ratkovich had been lined up to do the work but the decision was made mutually that Ratkovich's business did not have the resources required, Vieira said.
He said Rainbow Pier has since been talking to international developers who have expressed serious interest.
Saying he did so "meekly and humbly," Vieira asked the board to consider negotiating only with his group if it got all its affairs in order before a request for proposals could invite in other developers.
ATDC Chairman David Louie accepted Vieira's statement without a decision and then asked the board to consider the request for proposals, which was backed by the ATDC staff.
ATDC officials said that the proposal process would select a developer to come up with a plan. After a plan is selected, details about the environmental impact and other concerns will be addressed.
Responses to the advertised proposals would be evaluated on the basis of 60 percent of the weight going to the developer's capabilities, experience and financial resources. The other 40 percent would be divided between the quality of the project and the financial return to the state, which owns the land.