Ward Village next week will become more of a mixed-income community as residents begin moving into the fourth condominium tower built in the Kakaako neighborhood.
The 423-unit tower, Ke Kilohana, is slated to open Wednesday following a blessing ceremony and will become the first targeted to and mainly reserved for moderate-income households.
The first three towers that opened over the last three years in the community masterplanned by Texas-based Howard Hughes Corp. were all luxury towers where average unit prices were $1 million at Ae‘o, $1.2 million at Anaha and $3.6 million at Waiea.
At Ke Kilohana, the average condo price is $510,776. Prices ranged from $323,475 to $442,246 for one-bedroom units, from $473,789 to $538,612 for two-bedroom units and from $521,774 to $560,774 for three-bedroom units.
Buyers, who competed in a lottery for most of the units, were eligible if they didn’t earn any more than 140 percent of Honolulu’s median income, an amount that equated to about $85,150 for a single person, $97,300 for a couple or $121,650 for a family of four when the lottery was held in early 2016 shortly before construction began.
Kaycie and Phil Baltunado were among the lucky lottery winners. The couple with four children had outgrown a two-bedroom condo in Makiki owned by Kaycie’s mother, and drew a lottery number high enough to buy one of the last few remaining three-bedroom, one-bathroom units at Ke Kilohana.
“We’ve been waiting three years,” said Kaycie, a teacher at Sacred Hearts Academy.
Added Phil, a project manager at contracting firm Alakai Mechanical, “It’s exciting. It’s so nice.”
The Batunados got a sneak peek in the building at the corner of Ward Avenue and Halekauwila Street on Friday, along with their children Bella, 5, Lilikoi, 6, Kaliko, 8, and Railey, 11.
“I want the biggest room,” declared Kaliko.
“Look at the closet, it’s so big,” said Lilikoi.
The family, scheduled to move in next month, marveled at amenity spaces in the tower that include a karaoke room, a movie room, a music room, a gym with an adjoining playroom for children, two community “sky lanais” and an outdoor park and barbecue area. A Longs Drugs store is scheduled to open on the ground floor of the building in November.
Hughes Corp. reserved 375 of Ke Kilohana’s 423 units for residents with moderate incomes. The other units were sold at market prices.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency regulating development in Kakaako, requires developers to produce 20 percent of residential units affordable and available to residents earning moderate incomes in return for building above a low-rise level. The moderate-income focus aims to serve a “gap group” of residents who often can’t afford market-priced homes but don’t qualify for other affordable-housing programs tailored to lower-income households.
Hughes Corp. has a state-approved master plan to develop up to around 4,500 residential units planned in 16 towers, along with 1 million square feet of retail businesses.