Plan floated
for residences on
Kakaako waterfrontBut an area association
says the development
would not fit in well
Residential development on Kakaako waterfront land owned by the state is once again being floated as a necessary part of the plan for the 180 acres that will include the John A. Burns School of Medicine.
But an organization representing private-sector entities with their own stake in Kakaako disagrees.
The board of directors of the Hawaii Community Development Authority yesterday approved spending $147,000 on preliminary studies to evaluate residential use of the waterfront parcel.
However, the Kakaako Improvement Association almost immediately passed a resolution saying residential development is inappropriate for such high-profile state land and rather than helping local people, the homes will end up in the hands of wealthy absentee owners.
"We said that it will not only compete with private development on the mauka side (of Ala Moana), it is the last of the government-owned oceanfront property," said Don Ojiri, head of Kakaako-based printing firm Obun Hawaii Inc. and president of the KIA, which has no decision-making power over the plan for Kakaako.
Local businesses object because the homes will end up in the hands of non-Hawaii investors, he said.
But Teney Takahashi, planning and development director of the HCDA, said the authority is well aware of that worry. He told an HCDA meeting yesterday morning that residential development on the makai portion was rejected by the HCDA in the past.
That was because of concerns that it would create "an enclave for wealthy absentee owners," which has happened in other developments, he said. But that can be dealt with by rules and by the marketing done for the homes, Takahashi said.
"This is not a reason to exclude residential," he said.
Takahashi said residents are needed in the area to provide "vitality" and to support retail and other commercial ventures. Residences can be an "aesthetic buffer" between the medical and scientific activities and the people of Hawaii and homes are also needed for people working in the new scientific and commercial facilities, he said.
Takahashi said the idea for the makai parcel is that it should be a place for people to live, work and play.
Residential development was a center point of an overall plan for Kakaako makai produced earlier this year by Cooper, Robertson & Partners, a New York-based urban design firm retained last fall by the major private Kakaako land owners, Kamehameha Schools and Victoria Ward Ltd.
The HCDA is the state agency responsible for the redevelopment of the Kakaako district, which is the area bounded by Kapiolani Boulevard, Ward Avenue, the oceanfront an Punchbowl Street.