Kamehameha Schools presented plans to adjust a second phase of largely high-rise housing development in Kakaako on Wednesday to a state board regulating such projects in the area.
The trust is primarily seeking to extend a deadline to carry out development, to shift building densities between blocks and to produce more affordable housing than required if such homes don’t count toward a total maximum density limit for 29 acres in its master plan for the area.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency regulating development in Kakaako, said all the changes being sought by Kamehameha Schools are consistent with its rules and a state law pertaining to zoning exemptions for predominantly affordable housing projects.
If the agency’s board approves the requested changes at a scheduled June 2 meeting, Kamehameha Schools envisions producing two towers that have over 50% of homes reserved for low- to moderate-income households.
By comparison, HCDA rules require 20% of new homes in high-density projects be priced for moderate- income households.
Walter Thoemmes, managing director of the trust’s commercial real estate division, said more affordable housing needs to be produced to help keep local residents, including Native Hawaiian beneficiaries of the charitable trust, from leaving the state because of high housing costs.
“It’s no secret that there’s a price to living in paradise, and the cost of living makes it difficult for our lahui (people) and our communities to thrive,” he told the board, noting that the median sale price for single-family homes sold on Oahu last month hit $950,000.
“As an educational institution equipping our keiki for post-secondary success, we want to see them stay in Hawaii or to return here and contribute to and be leaders in our communities,” Thoemmes told the board. “But without adequate housing — without a lifestyle they can afford and employment opportunities — these keiki are at risk for moving away or staying away and using their education and talents in other communities, and we think that’s a loss for Hawaii.”
Kamehameha Schools is one of two large landowners in Kakaako with master redevelopment plans approved by HCDA about a decade ago.
Texas-based Howard Hughes Corp. is the other, and has so far largely produced luxury towers with average unit prices at or above $1 million while also meeting HCDA’s 20% moderate-priced housing requirement under a plan covering 60 acres envisioned for about 4,500 homes in 16 towers, along with public parks and 1 million square feet of retail space Diamond Head of the Kamehameha Schools lands.
Kamehameha Schools has produced more lower-priced housing and is about half done with its master plan covering nine blocks.
An initial phase covering four blocks includes the retail complex Salt, two condo towers (The Collection and Keauhou Place) and several mid-rise condo and rental apartment projects with affordable units (400 Keawe, Flats at Puunui, Keauhou Lane and 680 Ala Moana) produced by Kamehameha Schools and other developers.
The trust told HCDA’s board that it can’t reasonably finish the master plan under its 15-year effective timetable that ends in 2024. HCDA rules can permit extensions if a master plan is being implemented to its satisfaction.
The initial phase of the trust’s Our Kakaako master plan has delivered 1,336 homes, of which 456, or 34%, meet HCDA affordability requirements, according to Kamehameha Schools.
Under the trust’s amended vision for its remaining five blocks, market- rate housing towers would rise on three blocks fronting Ala Moana Boulevard while two blocks immediately mauka are envisioned for affordable housing under a state incentive program that is sometimes referred to as 201-H after the statute chapter governing it.
The program can provide exemptions to state and county zoning rules with approval of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency that helps developers produce affordable housing by providing such exemptions as well as financing and waivers on permit fees and taxes.
Other things Kamehameha Schools is seeking from HCDA is confirmation that it can include Koula Street, which it recently determined it owns, as part of its redevelopment area, that it can shift unused density on the Salt site to other blocks, and that it can build more homes than the 2,750 it originally estimated as long as it does not exceed an overall master plan density limit.
“Our goal is for Our Kakaako to become a better future for our residents by creating new places for people to live, work, dine, shop and visit,” Serge Krivatsy, Kamehameha Schools’ director of planning and development, told the board. “Working with our development partners, we’re trying to build housing for kamaaina of diverse income levels, near jobs, parks and shopping so people can spend less time commuting in their cars and more time living.”
The trust projects that an initial tower in its second phase could start construction as soon as late 2023 if master plan changes are approved.
