COURTESY OLIVERMCMILLAN
A rendering of a proposed development that includes 500 rental units on Queen Emma trust land.
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The Waikiki Neighborhood Board approved a plan late Tuesday night from OliverMcMillan to develop 500 rental units on Queen Emma trust land.
Ten board members supported the project, which will redevelop a 2.5-acre tract on Kuhio Avenue, while adding rental and affordable housing inventory to Waikiki.
Kris Hui, OliverMcMillan development director, said the development company is the first to use the planned development apartment permit, which was passed in 1994 to provide more flexibility to Waikiki developers. Hui said increasing density, height and transitional setbacks would enable OliverMcMillan to provide up to 100 affordable housing units.
The units, which range from studios to two bedrooms, will remain at rates catering to 80 percent of area median income for 15 years. They would be split between four refurbished low-rise walk-ups and a new 285-foot tower, which will sit on the current Food Pantry site at 2370 Kuhio Ave., which will close when the project breaks ground. The balance of the 500-unit project, comprising studios to three-bedroom units, would be rented at market rates, he said.
The project, which could begin construction in summer 2019 and open in 2022, also will include a stand-alone ABC Store and about 40,000 square feet of retail space on the tower’s two ground floors, including a 24,000-square-foot grocery store to replace the 20,
300- square-foot Food Pantry.
