Six years after the unveiling of a vision to transform some 60 acres of waterfront retail and industrial businesses into a new neighborhood dominated by condo towers and many more shops and restaurants, the master plan for the emerging Ward Village is undergoing significant changes.
Among the matters on the re-drawing board is a proposal for elevated walkways that would connect Ward Village to state-owned Kewalo Basin harbor and the ewa edge of Ala Moana Regional Park. On the mauka side, walkways would stretch to a planned city rail station on Ward Village property, between Halekauwila and Queen streets. Spurs would lead to retail space and condo towers. The walkways would include pedestrian bridges over three wide and busy city streets.
In the interest of preserving — and improving — public access to the harbor as well as to nearby Ala Moana Park and Kakaako’s streets, this idea deserves careful public scrutiny.
Ward Village’s developer, Texas-
based Howard Hughes Corp., is wedging up to 4,300 homes and
1 million square feet of retail space into this urban landscape. With two towers completed and two under construction, the area is already seeing more foot traffic and motorists. So, walkways and pedestrian-focused bridges hold potential to serve as an attractive and efficient means to avoid street safety problems.
However, both must be equally accessible and useful to Ward Village residents as to the general public. Also, before any construction gets underway, the vision must be vetted in a way that guards against an over-gentrification of areas where public and private spaces overlap.
Honolulu Hale is now drafting an Ala Moana Park master plan that aims to upgrade facilities yet maintain the site’s character, which has seen few changes in recent decades. In response to the city’s pitch, many parkgoers say they want to see preservation of a casual local vibe — ample natural beauty, few frills.
Tied to that sentiment is a reasonable worry that parts of the
$7.5 billion Ward Village makeover could result in some private-sector co-opting of public spaces. For instance, Oahu’s most-visited beach park — dubbed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as “The People’s Park” — cannot be reshaped as an amenity perceived as tailored largely for Ward Village residents.
The same holds for Kewalo Basin. Two years ago, Hughes Corp. secured a 35-year lease from the state to head up a revitalization at the small, commercial boat harbor. It has since launched a $20 million upgrade effort. While it makes financial sense for the state to forge a public-private partnership there, the public must guard against an even unintentional trimming of public access.
Plans for the walkways and pedestrian bridges — envisioned as stretching over Ala Moana Boulevard, Auahi Street and Ward Avenue — are in the conceptual stage, and will need city and state approvals. Simon Treacy, president for the developer’s Hawaii operation, has said public input and collaboration will figure in. Let’s hold Hughes Corp. to that pledge.
There’s reason for some cautious optimism. The developer has been applauded for scaling back the count of towers to 16 from 22, and for opting to orient narrower tower sides to preserve more public mauka-makai views. And from the start, the Ward Village master plan has noted intent to heed the city’s 2012 “Complete Streets” ordinance, which requires designing streets for all users, whether traveling by foot, bicycle, car or other mode.
Still, sustained vigilance is needed to guard against the downsides of development — concerns ranging from diminished public access to concrete-related blight and the loss of precious public green spaces. There’s no question that Hughes Corp. knows that in Ward Village it holds a rare opportunity to create an urban community and to reap profit and other rewards from reworking prime waterfront property. The question is whether Hawaii’s residents fully appreciate what’s at stake.
