The city is buying two properties where it will add affordable housing, both near a planned rail station on Dillingham Boulevard: one a $51.5 million, 3.8-acre warehouse complex on Iwilei Street, Diamond Head-side of the Dole Cannery complex; the other an $8.4 million former First Hawaiian branch building on North King Street, just south of Liliha. The acquisitions create welcome transit-oriented development (TOD) prospects to remake and renew a segment of Honolulu that has been largely neglected — although Honolulu Community College, popular big-box retail outlets and the cannery complex, all nearby, draw thousands of visits daily.

It’s a big, and proper, investment in Honolulu’s future, with potential to make life in this part of the city better while providing affordable homes to hundreds of below-median income households. So it’s important that Honolulu get this right, both in adding the homes, services, pedestrian improvements and open space desperately needed in this central location and by taking care to develop a place islanders are proud to call “home” — safe, clean and attractive, as well as accessible.

The city envisions creating up to 1,000 affordable housing units at the site of the existing Iwilei Center, while also incorporating mixed-use retail, community service offices and rail parking, with a direct connection to a Skyline station coming to the intersection of Dillingham Boulevard and Ka‘a‘ahi Street. That’s a great plan, should the city sweat the details.

To establish a safe and attractive community, Honolulu must not only provide housing, but also create a clean, green community that inspires a feeling of belonging, with housing for people at mixed income levels and incorporation of elements that belong in every neighborhood, such as clear sidewalks, grocery stores, small businesses, safe parks. Benefits will flow to residents and the city in improved health, safety and cleanliness.

At present, King Street around the former bank site is often strewn with trash and lined with tents sheltering homeless people. Iwilei Street is a pedestrian pathway to Dole Cannery and the Regal movie theaters, as well as the Salvation Army and IHS services, and the sidewalks are often occupied by people who spend their days and nights on the walkways adjacent to the Iwilei complex that is being purchased. The intersection where Skyline’s Kuwili Station will be placed, across Dillingham near Honolulu Community College, was the site of a sexual assault last year. These disincentives for public use of the streets and sidewalks need to be addressed as part of the area’s makeover.

Students and workers must be able to commute to and from Honolulu Community College and area stores, restaurants and offices without trepidation. Clean and safe walkways and bike routes must be created and maintained throughout the area. Housing must be provided for those who currently sleep along Iwilei’s sidewalks and fence lines — and workforce housing must also be incorporated, such as units suitable for HCC teachers and students.

It’s also important to taxpayers that the city carefully steward its spending. The Iwilei Center cost the city $51.5 million, but it has been identifiable for some time as the site of “critical infrastructure” for Honolulu’s Downtown Neighborhood Transportation-Oriented Development Plan — and Honolulu’s Iwilei Center LLC, an affiliate of BlackSand Capital, just two years ago had purchased the property for about $36 million. Had the city acted sooner and with similar foresight, it could have saved millions.

The Blangiardi city administration is on the right track with a plan to “think big and fully activate this transit-oriented community.” It must now act nimbly and strategically, wringing maximum rewards from each tax dollar.