Elevated walkways connecting condominium towers in Kakaako were a state vision decades ago. Now the developer of the biggest master-planned community in the area wants to put some in place.

The developer of Ward Village has decided to redraw much of its master plan — primarily a row of future towers fronting Ala Moana Boulevard — and would like to add elevated pedestrian walkways between some buildings and over three wide, busy streets.

“This would really transform the area,” said Simon Treacy, president of Hawaii operations for Texas-based Howard Hughes Corp. developing Ward Village. “This is a game-changer.”

Treacy, a former top executive for multibillion-dollar global real estate firm BlackRock who joined Hughes Corp. in January, said there was a need to refresh the Ward Village plan covering 60 acres and better connect people with adjacent public recreational spaces that include the ocean, beach and Ala Moana Park.

To do that, Hughes Corp. is proposing to build elevated walkways with pedestrian bridges over Ala Moana Boulevard, Auahi Street and Ward Avenue.

These walkways would have two main endpoints: one at Kewalo Basin next to the Ewa edge of Ala Moana Park, and one at a planned city rail station on the mauka side of Ward Village between Halekauwila and Queen streets. Walkway branches would make connections to several Ward Village condo towers, perhaps at second-story levels where retail stores would be, as well as ground connections at points including a central public plaza within Ward Village.

“We think that we’ve got something here that’s truly special,” Treacy said.

Treacy said the envisioned pedestrian paths would not only benefit Ward Village residents and businesses, but also create a connection for transit riders to walk to the beach park and vice versa.

To fulfill this new vision, Hughes Corp. will need city and state approvals. Treacy said public input and collaboration also will happen.

As part of the redesign plan, Hughes Corp. is going to nix approved plans for two ultraluxury high-rises dubbed Gateway Towers on part of the site where the Ward Warehouse retail complex stood until it was razed earlier this year.

Hughes Corp. had been selling units in the first of these towers, dubbed Gateway Cylinder, since July 2015 at prices from $1.5 million to $23 million. The company disclosed in April that it had contracts to sell 28 units. Treacy said this tower won’t be built. Buyers will be refunded deposits and offered other opportunities for homes at Ward Village. Hughes Corp. noted earlier this year that it had spent $16 million on predevelopment costs for the first Gateway tower and $13 million on the second one through the end of last year.

The Gateway Towers, designed by famed architect Richard Meier, were two of four towers slated along Ala Moana Boulevard between Ward Avenue and Kamakee Street offering unobstructed ocean views. One tower exists on this block: Waiea, which was completed in late 2016 as the first tower built at Ward Village. At the end of March, all but eight of Waiea’s 174 units had been sold. The average price was $3.6 million.

Treacy said it’s not certain how many towers will be on this block after plan updates are complete, though the master plan approved by the state allows a certain total maximum floor area for all towers on the block.

Hughes Corp. to date has finished two towers and has two others under construction.

In all, the Ward Village master plan covers 60 acres and allows up to 4,300 homes and 1 million square feet of retail.

The previous owner of the property, Ala Moana Center’s Chicago-based owner, GGP, obtained state approval for the master plan, and Hughes Corp. has made tweaks including reducing the number of towers to 16 from 22 and committing to orient the towers’ narrower sides to preserve more public mauka-makai views.

The state agency regulating development in Kakaako, the Hawaii Community Development Authority, also has revised its plans and rules over the decades. More than 30 years ago, the agency adopted plans to encourage super-blocks with towers linked by pedestrian walkways 45 feet above ground level where there would be public parks built on parking garage rooftops.

“This upper-level system will allow people to move throughout the mauka area without going to the street level with its accompanying automobiles,” the plan explained.

That vision was never realized. But Treacy said approaching technology such as driverless cars dropping people off need to be reflected in how people get around in new communities. The city’s rail system is another factor that will increase pedestrian demands in the area, including people walking through Ward Village and crossing six lanes of Ala Moana Boulevard, which can be intimidating and uninviting.

“The future is almost now,” he said. “We have to take that consideration into account.”