Kakaako may soon get two new parks, adding more than 2.5 acres of green and some sculpture art works in an area that now houses mostly a jumble of single-story warehouses and workshops. Kakaako may get new parks
By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comThe state agency responsible for Kakaako development will vote tomorrow on whether to advertise for bids to build the parks.
The board of the Hawaii Community Development Authority approved the plans earlier and is scheduled to vote tomorrow whether to spend public funds to advertise for bids to build the parks.
The board, meeting at 9 a.m. in the former Gold Bond Building at 677 Ala Moana, will also vote on whether to spend public funds for art works for the parks, including a sculpture, said Jan Yokota, HCDA executive director.
The designs call for a slim park of 37,000 square feet mauka of a Queen Street extension and a 72,000-square-foot park on the makai side of the extension.
In the Diamond Head direction, Queen Street currently ends at Kamakee Street. The planned extension will run from Kamakee Street toward Piikoi Street and Ala Moana Center, linking up with Waimanu Street.
The area is inland from Ala Moana Boulevard, surrounded by land set aside for future development by the creators of the Nauru Tower and the Hawaiki Tower and other properties belonging to Victoria Ward Ltd.
Money for the projects and the art would come from "public facilities dedicated funds," collected from developers in the area under a state program, Yokota said.
