State acts to remake
downtown waterfront
A $350 million vision for
Aloha Tower calls for condos, retail
and razing HECO's plant
A grand vision of condos, parks and a trolley system along the Aloha Tower waterfront came into sharper focus yesterday when the state agency overseeing the area's redevelopment reached agreement with a Dallas-based developer.
The Aloha Tower Development Corp. (ATDC) entered into a development agreement with UC Urban that pledges the two sides to move forward on their ambitious $350 million blueprint for revitalizing the state-owned area and enhancing its integration with the rest of downtown Honolulu.
"This is just the first step. There's a lot more that needs to be done, but this commits the ATDC to putting its best effort forward in bringing vitality to the waterfront area," ATDC Chairman David Louie said.
UC Urban President Kenneth Hughes said the agreement also names the company as master developer of the combined undertaking.
|
For the past two years, Hughes has been working with the agency to shape a plan for the area.
The agreement yesterday calls for UC Urban to develop as many as 500 condominium units, tentatively priced from about $360,000 to about $800,000 if they are sold fee-simple, as Hughes wants. The project would also include 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space in a complex called Pacific Quay on the waterfront along Piers 5 and 6. The area is just Diamond Head of the Maritime Museum and now occupied by a parking lot.
But the two sides still face a long road ahead in bringing the overall plan to fruition, particularly in securing the public funding necessary to pay for $130 million in infrastructure improvements and other proposals that Hughes said are necessary to make Pacific Quay feasible.
That expensive wish list of upgrades includes changes to Aloha Tower Drive and Nimitz Highway to untangle the traffic snarls that plague the area; a new parking structure at Pier 2 at the waterfront's Diamond Head end; a 2.4-mile trolley system linking the area with downtown Honolulu; and the demolition of the Hawaiian Electric Co. generating plant and replacing it with three new park areas.
The ATDC also wants to see a redevelopment of Piers 10 and 11, where visiting cruise ships dock. That could include a new cruise ship terminal, a parking structure and a new headquarters for the state Department of Transportation's Harbors Division.
"What this agreement means is that the board is interested in pursuing all the components of the program. But to actually do that, a whole bunch of other things have to happen," said Ted Liu, director of the state's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and a member of the ATDC board.
Besides Hughes' Pacific Quay, the Piers 10 and 11 redevelopments would be awarded to private developers. But the other projects would require public funding, Liu said.
This could include seeking funds from the Legislature to help pay for the HECO plant removal and park construction, Liu said, adding that the state is in discussions with HECO on the matter.
He said the ATDC may also seek state funds for traffic improvements in the area and federal funds for changes affecting Nimitz Highway, which may include traffic calming measures designed to make the highway less of a barrier between downtown and the harbor.
In July, Hughes also proposed building an underground bypass road to handle through traffic on Nimitz.
"These things wouldn't be done just for us. They should have been done a long time ago," Hughes said.
The trolley plan, meanwhile, envisions linking the system to a future publicly built parking lot near the waterfront and using the parking fees to support the trolley system and possibly even make it profitable.
"There is still a huge amount of analysis to be done. But we now have a basic package in front of us that addresses a lot of the issues affecting the waterfront," Liu said.
Though the agreement between Hughes and the ATDC is binding, it recognizes that the project could evolve significantly over time.
"Flexibility is a key part of this agreement, but the stimulating thing is that everyone realizes how important and successful this could be," Hughes said.
The ATDC is trying to jump-start a redevelopment effort that began in 1994 with the completion of the $100 million Aloha Tower Marketplace. The marketplace was intended as the first phase of a $700 million, five-phase revitalization of the area into a vibrant waterfront district.
However, developer Aloha Tower Associates ran out of money and defaulted on lease payments to the state, which three years ago reclaimed development rights.
Hughes said last week that he and the ATDC need to work quickly in the remainder of the year and early next year to get a more formal plan ready so that any funding requests can be put to the Legislature in the next session. He said he hopes the first ground can be broken about a year from now.
|
www.alohatower.org
