---

Project will bring life
to Kakaako coastline

THE ISSUE The Hawaii Community Development Authority has announced plans for development of the Kakaako waterfront.

REVITALIZATION of Honolulu's waterfront is taking a major step toward fulfillment with tentative approval of ambitious plans for development along the Kakaako coastline. A variety of ingredients, including an amphitheater, restaurants, other business activity and residential units, are all critical in creating a lively magnet that extends beyond sunset.

The Hawaii Community Development Authority has selected Alexander & Baldwin from 15 companies that submitted bids to develop the 65-acre tract. The choice of a company with deep Hawaii roots provides additional expectation that the new waterfront will be sensitive to local needs, such as enhancement instead of disturbance of the popular Point Panic surfing area.

Concerns have been raised about the component of 947 condo units in three 20-story buildings that one critic predicts will result in "a restricted area for rich people." The development should avoid that outcome, and Daniel Dinell, the authority's executive director, says efforts will be made to prevent that from happening.

Like other projects in Kakaako, Dinell says, one-fifth of the units will be sold at below-market prices to qualified buyers. The authority will retain the first right of refusal to buy back such a unit at no more than 7 percent annual appreciation.

The authority has other ways to encourage sales or rentals to what it calls its "target market" of "white-collar workers in the Waterfront and Kakaako." Those include people who work in the newly built University of Hawaii medical school building, which adjoins the property to be developed. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs also is considering the use of state land in the area for its headquarters and a cultural center.

Waterfront residents are seen as the core patrons of the adjoining retail outlets, and their condo purchases will be relied upon as the source of capital to pay some of the cost of the development, expected to be $650 million. Alexander & Baldwin also has agreed to pay the state $600,000 a year for rental of commercial space.

The experience of Aloha Tower Marketplace since it was built in 1994 attests to the importance of onsite residents. Envisioned as part of the plan, construction of condos was scrapped because of Hawaii's economic slump in the 1990s, and the marketplace has been riddled with litigation among creditors, lenders and builders. The recovering economy finally has resulted in renewal of plans to build 375 condo units at Piers 5 and 6, adjacent to Aloha Tower.

Part of Aloha Tower Marketplace's problems have stemmed from limited parking, another lesson that should be heeded in developing Kakaako. Plans include nearly 3,000 parking stalls, but that might not be enough if the project is as successful as hoped. The plans should include flexibility to add more parking if needed.

---

---

---