A real estate developer plans to greatly expand student housing options near the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a rental apartment tower in Moiliili, though some area residents fear the project’s impact on their community.

California-based Laconia Development LLC is seeking to develop a 14-story rental building for 590 tenants in 195 units on the site of a low-rise commercial complex called University Square, which is anchored by Central Pacific Bank.

The company, which shared its plans with the McCully-Moiliili Neighborhood Board earlier this month, said the roughly $100 million project featuring apartments with two, three and four bedrooms is aimed at UH students and will minimize car traffic by including a bike-share program and limiting the number of tenants who own cars.

Community concerns

Laconia representatives told the board that they intend to seek a permit from the city that would allow the tower to contain a relatively low number of parking spaces while providing a bike-share program and space to keep 274 bicycles and mopeds.

Yet some area residents were concerned about negative impacts, including traffic congestion and rowdiness, from concentrating so many college students on the 1.1-acre site at the makai-Diamond Head corner of University Avenue and South King Street makai of Puck’s Alley.

Laura Ruby, an artist who lives on University Avenue, said she’s concerned about rabble-rousing, and suggested that the project be aimed at UH faculty and graduate students.

“We in the community really don’t want beer bottles thrown over the back fence,” she said at the meeting, adding that traffic is another concern. “You’re going to impact the community tremendously.”

Larke Golaski, another area resident who attended the meeting, said adding 590 students to the neighborhood is too much. “It almost sounds like the first salvo in the dismemberment of our community,” she said.

Quality student housing

Paul Menzies, Laconia’s CEO, said in an interview that the 44-year-old company aims to address a need for affordable student housing with a quality project that enhances the community.

“A lot of students are living in sub-optimal housing,” he said, adding that by contrast much of the current focus among developers in Honolulu is luxury condominium towers that often appeal to out-of-state buyers.

“We don’t build luxury $2 and $3 or $5 million-dollar units or units that lease for $7,000 a month,” he said.

Rental rates in Laconia’s planned tower are projected to be competitive with student housing on campus — around $7,600 per semester for one occupant sharing a two-bedroom unit with three others or $11,265 per semester for a tenant sharing a two-bedroom unit with one other person, according to Steve Heaton, the company’s senior vice president of development.

Laconia has an agreement to buy the property, which includes one parcel owned by three local families and one parcel owned by CPB Properties Inc.

Public hearing ahead

The University Square property is zoned for commercial and residential use and has a height limit of 150 feet.

Laconia’s proposed project is within the height limit at 144 feet but needs a conditional use permit from the city because a group-living facility is a conditional use under BMX-3, or business-mixed-use zoning.

The conditional use permit will involve a public hearing, though Laconia has yet to apply to the city for the permit.

The city Department of Planning and Permitting also will determine how many parking stalls are necessary for the project.

Laconia proposes providing 198 spaces, of which 59 would be for residential tenants.

Keith Kurahashi, a principal with local planning firm Kusao & Kurahashi Inc. representing Laconia, told the neighborhood board that all but 59 tenants would have a restriction in their lease that prohibits ownership of a car. He said adherence can be verified through car registration records, and that similar policies have been effective at other projects.

“This has been proven to be the best way to ensure that students and residents will not be taking up valuable parking in the neighborhood,” he said.

Easing parking shortages

Menzies said Laconia commissioned a study from real estate firm CBRE that found 10 percent of residents in student housing in Honolulu own cars. So the company is proposing one parking stall for every 10 beds in the planned tower.

There is no minimum parking requirement for group living facilities under city’s Land Use Ordinance. The requirement is determined by DPP’s director on a case-by-case basis.

The other parking spaces in Laconia’s planned project would include 20 spaces for guests, 69 for the restaurant and retail tenants envisioned on the ground floor and 50 for the general public at a monthly rate as a way to help ease the shortage of parking among neighboring residents.

“The applicant understands there is a shortage of parking in the neighborhood and sees this as an additional community benefit,” Kurahashi said.

Menzies said the bike-share program is being planned with the help of Bikeshare Hawaii, and he expects that there would be at least 30 bikes in the program though the optimal number has yet to be determined.

If permits can be obtained without unexpected delay, Laconia projects it could start construction by the end of the year and have the project open by the fall of 2018.